Renown scientist and the director of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, Dr. Ajay Kumar Parida passed away aged 58 in Guwahati on Tuesday.
As per the reports, Parida was in Guwahati to attend a conference at Indian Institute of Technology – Guwahati (IIT-G) where he passed away after suffering a heart attack.
Amitabh Routary, spokesperson at ILS said, ““He left for Guwahati on Sunday morning from Bhubaneswar and was supposed to catch return flight at 7.30am on Tuesday. When he did not come out from his room till 6.30am his co-travellers opened the door of his room and found him unconscious. He was immediately rushed to a hospital there, where doctors declared him brought dead.”
It may be noted that Parida had been conferred with the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of science and engineering in 2014 and has several other awards and major recognitions.
Parida played a significant role during covid management in Odisha and his research works on genome sequencing of SARA-cov-2 virus culture and research on the behaviour of coronavirus helped the state government to chalk out plans in controlling the virus.