A life-size statue of former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was unveiled at Peikarumbu in Rameswaram on Wednesday on the occasion of his first death anniversary.

Inaugurating the bronze statue, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, "Dr. Kalam will live forever in our minds and hearts. His thoughts continue to be with us all the time.

"It is difficult still to believe that Dr. Kalam passed away and that this great man left all of us for his heavenly abode," he said.

Naidu and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also laid the foundation stone for a national memorial for the 'Missile man' of India, in Rameswaram.

Kalam passed away on July 27 last year after he suffered a massive cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at IIM- Shillong in Meghalaya.