GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday handed over Rs 5 lakh each as ex-gratia to the next of kin of 32 journalists who have either been killed and gone missing over the years in the state in various violent incidents.
Out of those, 28 journalists were killed while four others went missing in various incidents violence occurring in the state. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal formally distributed one-time ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of these 32 state journalists in a function organised under the aegis of state Directorate of Information and Public Relations Department (DIPR) here.
The deceased journalists include Kamala Saikia, Al-Farid Sajjad and Jiten Chutia, Pabitra Narayan, Kundarmal Agarwala, Kanak Raj Medhi, Parag Kumar Das, Anil Mazumdar, Hemanta Sarma, Jogendra Daimari, Jogesh Uzir, Dipak Sargiyari, Manik Deori, Ratneswar Sarma Shastri, Hari Chandra Boro, Bodosa Narzary, Jagajit Saikia, Dineswar Brahma, Raihanu Niyam, Prahlad Goala, Ranbir Rai, Prakash Hazarika, Krishna Chettri, Bimala Prasad Talukdar, Nurul Haque, Muslemuddin Ahmed and Kaushik Chandra Bora.
The missing journalists include Manikan Das, Pangatan Ali, Ankur Borbora and Girija Das.
Addressing the function, Chief Minister Sonowal said that proactive and alert media was necessary for the nation building process and also to keep the government in a democracy alert and sensitive to the aspirations of the people. He termed media in Assam highly active and strong compared to many other parts of the country and termed it a good sign for the state’s society.
(EoM)