Maharashtra: Veteran journalist Dinu Randive dies

Dinu Randive was conferred with the lifetime achievement award by former CM Devendra Fadnavis last year. (File photo)

Veteran journalist Dinu Randive died at his house in Dadar on Tuesday following a brief illness. He was 95.

Randive, who started his career as a reporter in Marathi newspaper Maharashtra Times in 1956, had participated in the freedom struggle, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement and the Goa liberation movement.

Last year, he was conferred with the lifetime achievement award of the Mantralaya Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh and Mumbai Press Club’s RedInk Award for Lifetime Achievement.

On Tuesday, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis paid tributes to Randive.

Randive lived among the masses and reported on their issues till the end. At a recent function, the journalist had recounted how he had stood at a railway station for days to count the number of trains in a bid to call the government’s bluff that train services were normal.

In his career spanning several decades, Randive had reported on the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, 1974 railway strike led by George Fernandes, and the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai. He had also reported extensively on mill workers, tribals, and dalits. In the last two decades, he had written in several Marathi publications.

His wife Savita, who also participated in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, died on May 16 this year.