The last rites of Ekushey Medalist Ranesh Maitra were completed with respect from all levels

Tofazzal Hossain Babu, Pabna: The last rites of language soldier, brave freedom fighter, veteran journalist and columnist, founder general secretary of Pabna Press Club, Ranesh Maitra, were completed with the respect, love and national guard of honour. Ranesh Maitra died on September 26 at 3:47 am while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Popular Hospital. He was 90 years old. The ambulance carrying his body left for Pabna early on Friday (September 30) after keeping the body in a mortuary in Dhaka. Ranesh Maitra's body reached his residence at Beltala in Pabna city around 1:15 pm. Relatives and connoisseurs flocked there to catch a glimpse of him for the last time. After the family ceremony, his dead body was taken to Rafiqul Islam Bakul Freedom Square of the city around 2 pm. Pabna Sadar Upazila Executive Officer Tahmina Akhter Raina and Pabna Sadar Thana Officer-in-Charge Aminul Islam Jewel gave the guard of honor to Ranesh Maitra on behalf of the administration. After that, Deputy Speaker Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku MP, Pabna Sadar Constituency Member of Parliament Golam Farooq Prince, District Administrator Rezaul Rahim Lal, District Administrator Biswas Russell Hossain, Superintendent of Police Akbar Ali Munshi, newly elected District Parishad Chairman A. People from different walks of life including various organizations such as S. M. Abdur Rahim Pakon, Vice President of Bangladesh Jasdar Amirul Islam Ranga, Annada Gobind Public Library, District Awami League, Combined Cultural Alliance, Suchitra Sen Memorial Preservation Parishad. From there, the body was taken to Pabna Press Club premises, which was built by his hand, at around 3 o'clock. There Pabna Press Club members, journalists and other professionals took a last look at him and paid floral tributes. There was a minute's silence and floral tributes. Pabna Press Club president ABM Fazlur Rahman, general secretary Saikat Afroz Asad, senior journalist Abdul Mateen Khan, former editor Ankhinur Islam Ramon and Ranesh Maitra's son Prabir Maitra gave a brief memorial at this time. His body was taken to the Pabna Jaykali Bari temple premises at 3:30. After performing religious rituals, he was taken to the Pabna crematorium. His last rites were performed there. Incidentally: He was born on October 4, 1933 in Nahata village of Rajshahi district. Ancestral residence in Bhulbaria village of Santhia upazila of Pabna district. Ranesh Maitra has been agitating and struggling for the helpless, exploited and deprived people of the country all his life. Passed matriculation from GCI School, Pabna in 1950. IA from Edward College, Pabna in 1955 and BA in 1959. His journalistic career began in 1951 with the weekly newspaper Naobelal published in Sylhet. After three years of journalism in Daily Satya Yuga published from Calcutta, he joined Daily News in 1955. Served as Pabna Correspondent in Daily Morning News in 1961 and Daily Observer from 1967 to 1992. After joining The New Nation as editor-in-chief in 1992, he worked as Pabna correspondent of The Daily Star from 1993 to 2000. Later, he voluntarily retired as a freelance journalist and gained wide fame across the country by writing columns in the top newspapers of the country. Besides, in 1961, he was elected as the founding general secretary of the East Pakistan Journalists' Association formed through the East Pakistan Moafswal Journalist Conference in Pabna. Through this conference, freelance journalists get recognition of their profession. He was elected the founder general secretary of Pabna Press Club established in the same year. Besides, he led the journalists of the district by serving as the president and editor of the press club for a long time. In 2018, he was awarded the Ekushey Padak, the second highest civilian award given by the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, for his contribution to journalism. Ranesh Maitra's political career began in 1948 by joining the language movement march from the student union. Bangabandhu was jailed with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was one of the organizers of Pabna district in language movement in 1952. At the time of the great liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, the age was around forty. But he jumped into the armed struggle out of determination to free his country, his beloved Bangladesh from the clutches of the Pakistani invaders.