Veteran journalist Raj Narain Mishra passes away

He was 80 and is survived by his wife and children.

Mishra breathed his last at his residence in Geeta Nagar Chaubey colony here yesterday, the sources said.

Popularly known as 'da' among the media fraternity, Mishra, born in 1932 in Nawabad village of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, initially worked as a teacher at the Damodar high school in Nagpur.

He later served as editor of weekly newspaper 'Mukti' in Nagpur.

In 1959, he was appointed as the assistant editor of Hindi daily 'Nayiduniya' (now 'Deshbandhu') where he worked for 31 years. His weekly column 'Ghumta hua aaina' in the newspaper was very popular.

After resigning from there in 1988, Mishra worked in several newspapers.

For the last 14 years, he was working as editor of his own newspaper 'Sangharsh ke swar'. He had received several awards for his work.

Senior state officials said Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt paid floral tributes to the departed soul and offered condolences to the family members at their residence.

Sources said state Chief Minister Raman Singh also expressed grief over the demise of the veteran journalist. In a condolence message, Singh said Mishra through his journalist acumen always highlighted the problems and emotions of the public.

His mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Marwari crematorium in Raipur.