Former IAS officer Aditya 'Dicky' Singh and a prominent wildlife conservationist and photographer, who left civil services, to build forest passed away at his home in Rajasthan. He was 57.
The environmentalist used to live on the outskirts of Ranthambore tiger reserve.
According to Aditya Singh's family friend Dharmendra Khandal, "Aditya had a surgery after a minor heart attack a few weeks ago, after which he had come back and was recuperating well. It was a normal day yesterday, he was talking to everyone and was very jovial in his usual way. It appears that he died in his sleep early morning today."
"Singh took up the rewilding project with great passion and rooting out invasive foreign plants and planting native trees, he turned it into a small forest. Through his conservation work he has motivated so many people. He developed the culture among conservationists of regularly following individual tigers," said Khandal, a conservation biologist.
During his journey, Aditya Singh co-authored a book "Noor: Queen of Ranthambore" on the life of Tigress Noor. The environmentalist is survived by his wife Poonam and 11-year-old daughter.
Another conservationist and Singh's friend Valmik Thapar said, "Who can believe that larger than life Aditya Dicky Singh is no more. Ranthambhore will miss him like no other... he loved every inch of Ranthambhore and was a great fighter for it. He said what he felt and never compromised with the truth. He was one of the finest wildlife photographers I have ever known and all my books of the last two decades were strengthened by his brilliant photographs."
"He was loved locally by all the hundreds that make up the team of guides, drivers and forest staff. I will never forget his sense of humour and laughter and so much more that made him a superb pillar of conservation on which Ranthambhore could rest," Thapar said.
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