Former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Nirmala Buch died of old-age related aliment late on Saturday. A 1960-batch IAS officer, Buch was also the first woman Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

She was suffering due to old-age related problems and died of multiple organ failure. She served as the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh government from September 1991 to 1993. She had also served as financial and education secretary from 1975-1977.

Before it, Buch had also served the Yojana Aayog (now NITI Ayog) and she has also pioneering role in framing of 'gramin vikas' and 'panchayati raj' system in Madhya Pradesh.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his condolences on the demise of MP's first woman chief secretary and said her conscientiousness and administrative efficiency were amazing. "I pray to God to give peace to the departed soul and strength to the bereaved family members to bear this loss. My thoughts are with the family in this hour of grief," Chouhan wrote on his social media account.

Former Chief Minister and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said Buch's services to the people of Madhya Pradesh will always be remembered. Expressing his condolences, Kamal Nath said, "Received the sad news of the demise of Mrs Nirmala Buch, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh and hard working social worker. May God give her soul a place in his holy feet and give strength to the family to bear this loss.

The contribution of Mrs. Buch in the social life of Madhya Pradesh will always be unforgettable. Humble tribute."

Notably, Nirmala Buch's husband Mahesh Neelkanth Buch, who was also an IAS officer, widely regarded as the architect of new Bhopal, had died of brain stroke and sudden cardiac arrest in June 2015 in Bhopal.