Lautoka City Council’s health services manager Rouhit Karan Singh has been remembered as someone who touched the lives of the many people he came across.
His death announcement on Monday shocked many who knew him as a vocal trade unionist leader.
In his eulogy to more than a hundred people at Churchill Park in Lautoka yesterday, Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh said personalities such as Singh were a rare trait.
He said even in his last moments of life, Singh was busy negotiating with a worker who had lost his job.
“You don’t come across such characters who touched the lives of those they came across,” he said.
“He was close to me. He would call me father from those early days when he became a trade union leader, and we worked together for almost two decades.
“Rouhit was a very humble and caring person.”
Council special administrator Ajay Kumar said Singh was a pillar of strength in the council.
“He knew all the market vendors, their issues, and the number of stalls,” Mr Kumar said.
“He was a strong unionist who had the workers’ rights at heart and handled things professionally. Their issues were his issues.
“His departure is not only a loss to Lautoka City Council but to the nation.”
Singh joined the council in 1994 as a trainee health inspector and was promoted to Manager Health Services, a position he held since 2009.
He was awarded the Most Outstanding Environmental Health Officer in the Local Government for the year 2022-2023 at the 29th AGM of the Fiji Institute of Environmental Health last year.
Singh was cremated at the Lovu Crematorium in Lautoka yesterday.
