JFA mourns deaths of scribes due to COVID-19

NET News Desk
GUWAHATI, Sep 19 : Journalists across India continue to die of Covid-19 as they are playing the role of corona-warriors after practicing doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, police personnel, etc. Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed its profound grief over their demises and urged every scribe to be cautious while reporting the pandemic from the ground.
Lately, the country lost three journalists to the novel coronavirus infection related ailments within eight days. The latest victim is reported from northern India as Anil Srivastava (68) from Basti in Jammu locality who succumbed to Covid-19 complications on September 18.
Associated with the United News of India for many years, Srivastava died at Basti Medical College hospital. Survived by his wife and two sons, the journalist also edited local newspapers namely Vichar Parakh and Prakash Times.
Earlier, Ravinder Kumar (30) from Una locality in Himachal Pradesh died of Covid-19. Working for Dainik Jagran, Kumar was not feeling well for some time. He was sent to the hospital after developing symptoms of Covid-19 on September 9 and he died on the way. His cremation was conducted following Covid-19 protocols. Kumar left behind his parents, wife and brother.
Similarly, Abohar (Punjab) based journalist  Naresh Bajaj (57) succumbed to Covid-19 complications on September 10. Bajaj worked as a correspondent for Sach Kahoon, a newspaper published from Sirsa. Importantly, the journalist was also very active as a frontline corona warrior.
Assam also witnessed two journo-victims recently as Udalguri based correspondent  Dhaneswar Rabha (35) died of Covid-19 at Guwahati Medical College hospital on September 6. Rabha is the first scribe in North East India to succumb to Covid-19 complications. He was suffering from renal problems and went for regular dialysis. Rabha left behind his parents, wife and two kids.
Next day, senior journalist Ashim Dutta passed away at  Silchar Medical College hospital. Dutta (65), who worked for a Bengali daily in Barak valley, was also suffering from kidney problems. He was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for the novel coronavirus infection. A pass-out from Gauhati University,  Dutta left behind his wife and an only daughter.
Weeks back, Mumbai based senior film-journalist Shyam Sarma, Nellore (AP) based scribe Narayanam Seshacharyulu, Pune based television reporter Pandurang Raikar, Kanpur based television journalist Neelanshu Shukla, Patiala based photojournalist Jaideep, Tirupati based  television reporter Madhusudan Reddy & video journalist M Parthasarathy succumbed to the infections.
The list also includes 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 Ratnam & Priyadarshi Patnaik.
Kolkata based photo journalist Ronny Roy lost his battle against the dreaded virus. New Delhi scribe Tarun Sisodia killed himself while undergoing Covid-19 treatment at AIIMS. Maharashtra’s veteran journalist Ashok Churi, who edited Marathi weekly Palghar Times, died at a Palghar based hospital, who later tested positive for Covid-19. The printer-publisher of Asomiya Khabar (Rantu Das) also died at a Guwahati hospital and later tested positive for the virus infection.
Expressing concern over hundreds of city-based media persons lately testing positive for Covid-19, JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria repeated the appeal to media group managements to come clean on their employees’ health status as part of social responsibility. The forum added that news channels and newspapers continue identifying other Covid-19 patients, but they collectively remain silent when their employees turn positive (except a few infected scribes who made personal revelations in social media).