Bhubaneswar, Aug 9: Suffering from illness for the past few days, Barendrakrushna Dhal took his last breath on Tuesday morning at his residence in Bhubaneswar. He was 77 years old.
It was seen that many journalists, politicians and eminent personalities rushed to his residence to give their last tributes to Dhal.
Dhal’s last rites will be performed at Puri’s Swarga Dwara on Wednesday, sources said.
During his forty years journalistic career, Dhal served many vernacular and national publications. He had worked as an Editor of Swarajya and as Odisha correspondent for leading Bengali daily Aaj Kaal. He had also contributed numerous thoughtful columns to leading Odia dailies, Sambad and Dharitri.
He fought for the interests of media persons in several forums and was also appointed as the President of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). He also wrote many novels and novellas in Odia.
Known as the Father of the Bhubaneswar Book Fair, Dhal started organizing the Book Fair in the early 1980s, which he continued till the very last.
