Bhubaneswar: Veteran trade union leader and All India Vice President of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Bishnu Mohanty passed away early this morning while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar. He was 74.

According to hospital sources, Mohanty breathed his last at around 3:15 AM. He had been suffering from diabetes-related complications and was under medical care for some time.

Bishnu Mohanty - a senior CITU leader and mass activist

A towering figure in Odisha’s labour movement, Mohanty began his political journey as a student activist and was associated with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI). During his student years, he was elected three times as president of the student union of Rourkela Government College and also served three terms as president of the student union of Rourkela Law College.

A prominent student leader from Sundargarh district, he was arrested and spent 24 months in jail during the Emergency in 1975. He also played a key role in several movements, including the Talcher-Bimlagarh railway agitation and the contract workers’ movement in Rourkela, which led to further periods of imprisonment.

Mohanty went on to become a senior member of the CPI(M) state secretariat and served as the General Secretary of CITU in Odisha, as well as its National Vice President. He led multiple trade unions across Sundargarh and the state, holding leadership positions such as president and general secretary in various organisations.

From 2000 until his passing, he continuously served as the State General Secretary of CITU for 26 years, becoming one of the most influential voices in Odisha’s labour movement.

His passing has been widely mourned across political and trade union circles. Leaders and workers have described his death as an irreparable loss to the working-class movement in the state and the country.