Dattatraya Ekbote, known popularly as Datta Ekbote (c. 1936 – 2 September 2020), was an Indian workers' rights activist, politician and former

Mayor of Pune The Mayor of Pune is the first citizen of the India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democ ...

, the second largest city in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

(after

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) and the eighth largest city in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Ekbote was a longtime, vocal activist for workers' rights, especially in India's

beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It orig ...

industry. The

, or bidi, is a type of cigarette popular in India. Ekbote grew up in extreme poverty to become a prominent labor rights activist and politician. He was the former Maharashtra State Vice President of the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

. He was also a member of the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

and, later in his career, the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party in ...

(NCP). In August 2020, Ekbote began exhibiting symptoms of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

and tested positive for the virus. He and his family tried to have him admitted to intensive care units of several private hospitals in Pune, but they were unable to find an available hospital bed or an ambulance for emergency treatment. Local officials had to appeal to Maharashtra state officials in order to finally secure his admission to a public medical centre,

Sassoon Hospital Sassoon General Hospital ( mr, ससून सर्वोपचार रुग्णालय) is a large state-run hospital in Pune, India with over 1500 beds. The B. J. Medical College, Pune and a Nurses training School is attached to it. ...

, where he reportedly did not receive proper treatment. Ekbote died from COVID-19 at

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

at 12:30 a.m. on 2 September 2020, at the age of 84. Ekbote's 45-year-old son, Ravindra or "Ravi", also died from COVID-19 on 31 August 2020, after testing positive for the coronavirus. The former mayor was survived by his wife, their two daughters, and a grandson. He was cremated at Kailas Cemetery in Koregaon Park. Ekbote's death drew attention to the lack of medical infrastructure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in Pune. Ekbote died just days after the death of local television reporter, Pandurang Raikar, who also died because he was unable to secure a bed or

ventilator A ventilator is a piece of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators ...

in an intensive care unit, just like Ekbote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekbote, Datta 2020 deaths Mayors of Pune Indian civil rights activists Workers' rights activists Activists from Maharashtra Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India 1930s births Janata Party politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra Samajwadi Party politicians from Maharashtra