Odisha government sanctions Rs four lakh to the bereaved family of Journalist Arindam Das

Bhubaneswar : Odisha government today sanctioned Rs four lakh to the family members of Arindam Das, the Chief Reporter of OTV, who died in a boat tragedy at Munduli barrage in river Mahanadi yesterday.
Media Advisor to Odisha government Manas Mangaraj in a tweet said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned Rs four lakh from the Odisha Working Journalist Fund to the family of Journalist late Arindam Das who passed away in a tragic incident.
Arindam died at Munduli barrage in river Mahanadi while the ODRAF boat he boarded to cover the rescue operation of a wild elephant capsized in the strong current of the river yesterday. The ODRAF team was deployed to rescue the elephant from the river.
Odisha Television Managing Director Jagi Mangat Panda had announced an assistance of Rs 20 lakh to the bereaved family of Late Arindam Das yesterday.
Meanwhile the mortal remains of Arindam was consigned to flames at his native village at Raikala in Keonjhar district today.
His body was taken to his village last night and the last rites was performed today.
Ghasipura MLA Badri Narayan Patra , Patna MLA Jagannath Naik and hundreds of villagers were present at the funeral site to pay their tributes to Arindam.
In addition to Arindam, six others including P Sinha the camera man of OTV and five personnel of the ODRAF team were in the boat when it capsized.
While Arindam died, Mr Sinha and four team members of the DRAF team are now undergoing treatment in SCB Medical College and hospital, Cuttack, a member of the ODRAF team is still missing and search operation is on to trace him.
Meanwhile ADG R K Sharma (Law and Order) has started inquiry into the boat tragedy.