Former Haryana minister Kriparam Poonia has passed away. He breathed his last at his Panchkula residence at the age of 89. Poonia was ill for a long time.
He was originally from Salhawas village in Jhajjar. Kriparam Poonia has 5 sons and a daughter. His brother B L Poonia is a Rajya Sabha MP.
His son Sunil informed the media about his father’s death. He became the Industry Minister by winning the election for the first time in the Devi Lal government. Sunil told that his father was appointed as the first direct IPS officer of Punjab Haryana in 1964.
After his death, his last rites were performed today at 2:00 pm at Shivpuri Cremation Ground in Mani Majra.
Admitted to the hospital in the first week of December
Doctor Poonia was admitted to the ICU at Paras Hospital in Panchkula since the first week of December. He breathed his last in the hospital last night. Dr. Poonia’s daughter-in-law and former candidate of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) from Ambala reserved Lok Sabha constituency, Dr. Kiran Poonia, confirmed this and said that Dr. Poonia breathed his last at around 9:30 pm. Doctors kept trying to save him but eventually he died due to cardiac arrest.
Kriparam Poonia became the first direct IAS of Haryana
Former minister Kriparam Poonia became the first direct IAS in 1967 after the formation of Haryana state. He took charge as SDM and worked as Jind DC in 1970. After that he worked as Registrar of Cooperative Society and took charge in Social Welfare. His son Sunil told that after that he was also appointed as Commissioner in Hisar in 1982.
Won the election for the first time, got the post of minister
Kriparam Poonia started his political journey in 1986. He resigned from the post of Commissioner during the Devi Lal government and took the first step in politics.
In 1987, he contested from Baroda from Devi Lal’s party Lok Dal, in this election he won 50,882 votes and reached the assembly in the very first election. As soon as he became an MLA, he was entrusted with the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Mines and Tourism Social Ministry in the Devi Lal government.
In 1989, many ministers resigned in protest against a speech given by Om Prakash Chautala, Kriparam was also included in this.
First went to Congress and then BSP
Punia was close to former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. He also had a good friendship with Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, who was made a minister in the Narasimha Rao government in 1991. Due to which Kriparam joined the Congress in 1991.
In 2005, he contested the Haryana Assembly elections as an independent candidate from Baroda Assembly but he could not win this election, he stood fourth.
In 2017, he again left the Congress and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party. However, just a year later, i.e. in 2018, he said goodbye to BSP as well. He has not joined any party since 2018.