Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Nek Chand, creator of Chandigarh's famed Rock Garden, dead

Nek Chand, the creator of world famous Rock Garden in Chandigarh, died on Friday at a hospital in the city where he had been admitted following chest pain.

The Padmashri awardee, whose 90th birthday was celebrated by the Chandigarh Administration on December 15, died at the PGIMER shortly past midnight, his family said. He was brought to PGIMER last evening, hospital officials said.

Nek Chand, who was born in a village now in Pakistan, worked as a road inspector of the Public Works Department. His body will be kept in the Rock garden on Friday to enable people to pay their last respects, his family said, adding, the cremation is expected to take place on Saturday.

He built the city's iconic Rock Garden from waste and other unused household materials. Spread over an area of forty-acres, the garden was inaugurated in 1976.