Centre head of Darjeeling RKM passes away

DARJEELING: Swami Nityasatyananda, the Centre Head of the Ramakrishna Mission Nivedita Educational and Cultural Centre (RKMNECC) Darjeeling, passed away on Sunday. He had suffered a cardiac arrest. The 60-year-old was in-charge of the Darjeeling centre since its inception in 2013. Incidentally, the Darjeeling centre is housed at Roy Villa, located on the Lebong Cart Road in Darjeeling. This is the house where Sister Nivediate had breathed her last.

With the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in August 2012, the Villa was transferred to the Games and Sports Department of the GTA. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiative resulted in barter between the State Government and the GTA whereby the GTA handed over Roy Villa to the State in lieu of which the State handed over the Tenzing Norgay Youth Hostel to the GTA. In 2013, the state government handed over Roy Villa to the Ramakrishna Mission. Since then Swami Nityasatyananda, was in-charge of the centre. The Maharaj's last rites will take place at the crematorium in Darjeeling, where the last rites of Sister Nivedita had also been performed. He was immensely popular in the Hills..