Senior journalist succumbs to Covid in Odisha; 12th such death in past month

Pritiman Mohapatra, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after testing positive for Covid 8 days ago, is survived by his mother, wife, and a daughter, all of whom have also tested positive.

Updated on: May 2, 2021, 08:55:56 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

A senior journalist Odisha-based journalist succumbed to Covid-19 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, a day the state recorded a single-day surge of over 10,402 cases, taking the total number of active cases to 67,800.

Pritiman Mohapatra, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after testing positive for Covid 8 days ago, worked with Times of India. He was 48 and is survived by his mother, wife, and a daughter, all of whom have also tested positive.

Mohapatra, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, worked with the Bhubaneswar edition of the newspaper. In his career, he had also worked with The New Indian Express, Bhubaneswar.

With his death, the state has lost 12 journalists to Covid in the past one month. Two days ago, Debendra Samantaray, veteran journalist working with Odia daily Sambad in Sambalpur district, died. Other prominent journalists from the state to have succumbed to Covid are senior journalist Adwaita Prasad Biswal of Rourkela, Doordarshan (DD-2) anchor Bhanu Prakash Rath, Zee Odisha journalist Manas Ranjan Jaipuria, and Amjad Badshah.

Also Read | Covid-19: What you need to know today

Last week, two journalists from Ganjam district succumbed to the disease. While 25-year-old Govinda Behera, a resident of Kukudakhandi block, was employed with news portal News 6, Manoj Sahoo, a resident of Chikiti block, was a reporter for Odia daily Nitidin.

Last year, 15 journalists in the state had died of Covid.

Media advisor to the state government, Manas Mangaraj, said all the journalists who have died this year will get the ₹15 lakh ex-gratia. “I have asked the director of information and public relations department to give the ex-gratia amount to the next of the kin of the deceased journalists in the week’s time,” he said.

Mangaraj said the state government would take a decision on Sunday on vaccination of 9,613 working journalists in Bhubaneswar. “We have enough doses to take care of journalists in Bhubaneswar. But we do not have enough to vaccinate journalists in the rest of the state. Once we get that, we would vaccinate all the journalists who we see as frontline workers,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.