BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 1st August 2024: In a heartfelt plea, President of the Tripura Journalist Union (TJU) and former Secretary of the Agartala Press Club (APC) Pranab Sarkar on Thursday wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha, urging immediate assistance for the families of deceased journalists and photojournalists.
In his letter, Sarkar highlighted the plight of several journalists who have passed away due to various illnesses and accidents over the past year. “You must be aware that several working journalists in the state have passed away due to various diseases and accidents in the last one year. Notable among them are journalist Abdul Sattar of Sonamura, journalist Manash Bhattacharya of Khowai, photo-journalist Debasish Barua, journalist Konad Modak, Dulal Chakraborty, Partha Sengupta, Samaresh Raha and others,” Sarkar wrote.
He emphasized the dire financial situation faced by the families of these journalists stating, “The sad thing is that most of the families of late journalists, photojournalists do not have any source of income. Their families are forced to spend days half-starved, starving. The education of the children of late journalists is about to stop.”
Sarkar’s appeal calls for the provision of government jobs and financial support to these families. “In this situation, I am requesting for providing a government job and financial help for all those journalists who have passed away in the past and recently and whose families do not have minimum source of income,” he added.
Expressing hope for a positive response, Sarkar said, “I hope that the Chief Minister Dr. Saha will consider my request only from a humanitarian point of view and take effective measures without delay. The entire journalist community of the state will be grateful to the Chief Minister for that.”
