Journalists’ Forum Assam expresses grief at the demise of Ashim Dutta

Sept. 6: Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) expressed profound grief over the demise of senior journalist Ashim Dutta, who succumbed to COVID-19 aggravated ailments on 7 September 2020 at  Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH). Dutta (65), who worked for a Bengali daily in Barak valley, was suffering from kidney problems and went for dialysis regularly. He was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after testing positive for novel corona virus infections. His health condition deteriorated next day and died in the early hours on Monday. A pass-out from Gauhati University, Dutta left behind his wife, only daughter, other relatives and well-wishers. This was stated in a press release issued by JFA Secretary Nava Thakuria.

Assam lost its first scribe to Covid-19 complications only Sunday as Udalguri based correspondent  Dhaneswar Rabha (35) died in Guwahati medical college hospital. The forum declared that Rabha  becomes the first journo-victim to Covid-19 pandemic in northeast India.  He was also diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and put on regular dialysis. Lately tested positive for the virus infection, Rabha left behind his parents, wife, two kids, a host of relatives.

Lately, the corona casualties among the media fraternity across the country started kicking as  it is frequently losing  media persons to Covid-19 instigated ailments. Days back, Mumbai based senior film-journalist Shyam Sarma, Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) based scribe Narayanam Seshacharyulu, Pune based television reporter  Pandurang Raikar succumbed to the infections.

The list also includes  television  journalist  Neelanshu Shukla  from Kanpur, photojournalist Jai Deep from Patiala, television reporter Madhusudan Reddy & video journalist M Parthasarathy from Tirupati, television reporter Ramanathan & news videographer E Velmurugan from Chennai, news presenter Davinder Pal Singh from Chandigarh, television scribe Manoj Kumar from Hyderabad, print-journalist Pankaj Kulashrestha from Agra,  Orissa’s journalists  Simanchal Panda, K Ch Ratnam & Priyadarshi Patnaik, etc.

Kolkata based photo journalist Ronny Roy became the first India scribe to lose his  battle against the dreaded virus. New Delhi scribe Tarun Sisodia  killed himself undergoing Covid-19 treatment at AIIMS. Maharashtra’s veteran journalist Ashok Churi, who edited Marathi weekly PalgharTimes, died at  a Palghar based  hospital, who later tested positive for Covid-19. The printer-publisher of AsomiyaKhabar (Rantu Das) also died at a Guwahati  hospital and later tested positive for the virus infection.

As  the casualties among the  media fraternity because of  Covid-19 complications start growing, JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria urged every scribe to be cautious while reporting from the ground. They expressed anguish that even though  hundreds of scribes across the State got infected, the worrisome development is not reported properly by the concerned media outlets except  few infected scribes made personal revelations in the social media.