Ekushey Padak winning poet Ashim Saha died Tuesday morning at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University in the capital.

Tapan Kumar Bagchi, a director at Bangla Academy, confirmed the news of death through a Facebook post.

Ashim Saha was suffering from parkinson's disease, constipation, diabetes and some other health complications.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock and sorrow at the demise of the poet. 

In her condolence message, she said the death of Ashim Saha caused an irreparable loss to Bengali language and literature.

The prime minister prayed for the eternal salvation of the departed soul and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family.

Ashim Saha's ancestral residence is in Madaripur but he was born at his maternal uncle's home in Netrokona on 20 February 1949. His father Akhil Bandhu Saha was a professor.

Ashim completed his higher secondary studies in 1967 at a Madaripur college.

He got admitted to the Bangla department of University of Dhaka in 1969 and obtained his master's degree in 1973.

The poet received the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2012 and the Ekushey Padak in 2019 for his contributions to Bangla literature.