Guwahati: Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) condoles the demise of another scribe to Covid-19 complications on 5 November 2020 in Orissa of central India. Local media sources reveal that Prabir Kumar Pradhan, a Bhubaneswar based television scribe, succumbed to novel corona virus infection related ailments as he was undergoing treatment in the hospital.
Pradhan (35) used to work for News18 (Odia) news channel and was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for Covid-19. He left behind his wife, a minor daughter with other relatives. His father, a retired police officer, also died of Covid-19 a few weeks back. Earlier the State lost three journalists namely Simanchal Panda, K Ch Ratnam and Priyadarshi Patnaik to the virus infection.
Days back, a Tripura based video journalist Jitendra Debbarma (46) succumbed to Covid-19 aggravated complications on 20 October. Debbarma, who worked for a Kokborak news channel, became the third journalist in northeast India to die of Covid-19. Earlier Assam lost two journalists namely Dhaneswar Rabha (35) on on 6 September and Ashim Dutta (65) on 7 September to the pandemic.
According to the Geneva based organization Press Emblem Campaign, India has lost 47 journalists to the new-found health disaster and becomes the second most affected country after Peru (93 casualties) since March followed by Ecuador (41), Brazil (36), Bangladesh (35), Pakistan (11), Afghanistan (7), Nepal (3) etc. The worldwide tally has risen up to 442 media persons in 52 countries till 31 October.
Terming the scribes as corona-warriors after the practicing doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, police personnel etc, JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria repeated its appeal to every media person to be careful and cautious while reporting the pandemic from the ground. They also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a comprehensive financial package to each media victim in the country.
