Hyderabad, Revolutionary balladeer Mohammed Nissar Ahmed, popularly known as Suddala Nissar, who recently penned and sang a folk song to create public awareness about coronavirus, succumbed to the same disease in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

A poet, singer, writer and dancer, Nissar breathed his last at state-run Gandhi Hospital. He was 55.

Nissar, an employee of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), was also the state Assistant Secretary of the TSRTC Employees Union and Secretary of the Telangana Praja Natya Mandali, an association of revolutionary singers.

TSRTC Employees Union General Secretary K. Raji Reddy said Nissar, who had problems breathing, was refused admission by private hospitals and he had to be taken to Gandhi Hospital, where a ventilator was not available.

Born in Suddala village of Nalgonda district (now Jangaon district), Nissar worked as a lorry cleaner and later as a driver. While working as the driver, he started writing and singing folk songs highlighting the inequalities in society and the problems of the poor and working class.

After joining RTC as a bus conductor in 1989, he became active in trade union activities. For three decades he wrote and sang on various issues.

People used to call him 'Naya Gaddar' or new Gaddar, after the famous balladeer and former Maoist ideologue.

Communist Party of India state Secretary K. Narayana and other leaders of the left parties and trade unions condoled the death of Nissar.