V Sundaram, the IAS officer-turned-journalist breathed his last at Chennai on the early hours of Friday. Seventy-two year-old Sundaram quit the IAS at the age of 52 and turned a full time writer. He is survived with three daughters.
Sundaram was the first chairman of Thoothukudi Port and is credited with designing ad developing it into a port of global standard. A nationalist to the core, Sundaram waged a relentless battle against the sand quarrying mafia to his last.He was the first bureaucrat to alert the Union and State Governments about rampant smuggling of the mineral rich sand from the beaches of southern Tamil Nadu which were known for their deposits of ilmenite, monazite, thorium.Sundaram, was an avid collector of music, books and art paintings.