Following the sad demise of The Pioneer Editor -in -Chief and former Rajya Sabha member Dr Chandan Mitra on Wednesday night at his residence in New Delhi, condolences have been pouring in from various quarters in Odisha. In a tweet, BJP national vice-president and former MP Baijayant Panda said, “Saddened to hear of passing of Chandan Mitra, senior journalist, publisher & politician. We had interacted frequently in parliament & outside, & even worked together on certain initiatives in the first decade of this century. Deepest condolences to his family. Om Shanti.” Padmacharan Nayak Abhinandan Samiti member and Utkal Sammilani Mancheswar Silpanchal branch president Dillip Dashsharma said, “Pray Lord Jagannath. May your soul rest in peace.” He recalled how Dr Mitra had attended the 84th Jayanti of Padmacharan Nayak and advised the journalists to uphold high standards of ethics in their profession. Odisha Praja Sangharsha Samiti State president, activist and Dalit leader Er Debashisha Hota also condoled the death of Dr Mitra. Recounting his personal relation with Dr Mitra which began during the national convention of Indian Media Centre (IMC) held on May 1, 2011, he said, “I was organiser of the convention which was held at Synergy Engineering College where Dr Mitra as the national president of IMC had joined. He was worried about the problems afflicting the country. He had no ego.”
A condolence meeting was held for Dr Mitra at the 'Udayabata' office at Jajpur Road under the chairmanship of scribe Dushmanta Rout.
Human rights activist Dipak Ranjan Panigrahi, social worker Upendranath Mohanty, Padmanav Barik, Manoj Samal, Gouri Sankar Pati, Bidyutprava Ray and others spoke about Dr Mitra’s contributions to journalism and value-based politics.