Last rites of former finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari was performed at Pashupati Aryaghat in Kathmandu on Sunday. Adhikari’s three daughters performed the last rites as per the Hindu tradition by lighting the funeral pyre.

Adhikari died while undergoing treatment at 9:35pm Saturday at Hospital for Advanced Medicine and Surgery in Kathmandu.

He was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago following problems in chest and lungs. Adhikari was 83.

Adhikari’s mortal remains was kept at Dhumbarahi-based party office from 9am to 12 in the noon for final tributes.

Adhikari, a second generation communist leader of Nepal, is remembered for introducing the old-age pension scheme and ‘Aafno Gaun Aafai Banaau’ (build your village on your own) programme, during his stint as a finance minister during the first communist government in the country.

A Standing Committee member in then CPN-UML, Bharat Mohan Adhikari had announced his retirement from active politics in 2014.