New Delhi: Noted Urdu poet Mazhar Imam breathed his last here on Monday. He was 83 and is survived by wife, a daughter and a son. He will be laid to rest at Mayur Vihar, Phase -1, on Tuesday afternoon.

The poet, who enriched Urdu poetry with a new genre of Aazad Ghazal, died of heart attack. A writer since the age of 13, Imam retired as the senior director of Doordarshan in Jammu and Kashmir but his real passion lay in reading and writing. He had 13 books on Urdu poetry published and also founded a new genre of Urdu poetry called Azad Ghazal.

The litterateur, who was counted among the leading contemporary poets, had four volumes of poetry to his credit -- Zakhm-e-Tamanna (1962), Rishta Goonge Safar Ka (1974), Pichle Mausam Ka Phool (1987) and Band Hota Hua Bazaar. In addition, a collection of his critical essays Aati Jaaati Lehren had also been brought out.

He is recipient of many awards like the prestigious Sahitya Akedemi Award, Ghalib Award, Delhi Urdu Academy Award, Maulana Mazharul Haq Award and All India Mir Academy Award.

He influenced a number of poets and inspired them to create aazad gahazal . He was sensitive to the changes that were influencing Urdu poetry of his day. His works left mark on the Urdu literature of the era of progressive movement, modernism and post modernism.

He was born in 1928 in Bihar’s Darbhanga district. His father Syed Amir Ali was a post master. Imam did his post-graduation in Urdu and Persian before going to Pune for diploma from TV and Film Institute. He had settled in Delhi after retirement.

The late poet had started his career from Kolkata with a daily Karvana in 1951.