Source: NorthEastNow,  Smita Bhattacharyya

The announcement of a pension for journalist Manoram Baruah by the government came too late.

He breathed his last at 2 am at his Garmur residence here on Tuesday without seeing a penny of it.

Baruah, who was the editor of Saptahik Janambhumi and worked in the organisation for more than 25 years, had entertained readers with his column, Durmukhor Diary.

Suffering from a debilitating disease, he and his family lived in penury, the nominal pension of Rs 800 or so and his savings hardly sufficing to foot the food bill, forget about medicines and other essentials.

On seeing his condition, Pradip Borah, reporter of a regional TV channel gave a call for collection of money in his aid and reporters here rallied to the call and collectively donated about Rs 30,000 to the family in December, 2017.

Several newspapers also reported about the condition in which he and his family were surviving and also demanded that the government give him a journalist pension. The government announced the pension for Baruah on August 15 last.

Reporter of an Assamese daily Heman Das, who had also visited Baruah at his residence, said the condition in which the family was subsisting was pitiable.

Baruah was born on October 1, 1940 and is survived by his wife, son and daughter.

The Press Club of Jorhat has condoled his death.

Story first appeared in nenow.in on 2nd Oct 2018