New Delhi, Aug 13 (Agencies) : Om Prakash Munjal, the founder chairman of bicycle giant Hero Cycles, died after a heart attack in Ludhiana on Thursday morning. He was 86.

Family sources said Munjal breathed his last at 10.30 am at Hero Heart Institute of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, where he had been admitted on Monday after he complained of uneasiness. He suffered a brain stroke the next day and was in a critical condition ever since.

The cremation will be held at 5pm on Friday.

In view of his declining health, Munjal had handed over the reins of the company to his son Pankaj Munjal, who was the managing director of Hero Cycles, on July 20.

SUCCESS STORY

From a modest beginning of bicycle spare parts business in Amritsar in 1944 with his brothers to being one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, Munjal, known as the father of the cycle industry in the country, scripted a successful business story.

The Hero Cycles factory was set up in 1956 in Ludhiana with a capacity for producing 25 cycles a day. It now produces nearly 19,000 cycles daily.

Listed in the Guinness Books of World Records in 1986 as the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, Hero Cycles commands nearly 48% of the market share in the country.

PERSONAL LOSS: BADAL

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal expressed grief over Munjal’s death. He recalled Munjal’s contribution in putting Ludhiana on the industrial map of the world. “It is a huge personal loss for me but I am sure the life of this great entrepreneur of Punjab will act as a source of inspiration for the coming generations,” he said. Lauding the role played by Munjal in philanthropic causes like opening schools and colleges, Badal said that the state had lost one of its illustrious sons. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and information and public relations minister Bikram Singh Majithia offered their condolences to the bereaved family.

Industrialists, including Avon Cycles managing director Onkar Singh Pahwa and Bhogal Cycles chairman Avtar Singh Bhogal, also mourned the death.