Veteran Photo journalist Bikash Kole passes away after prolonged illness

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 22, 2026

Veteran photo-journalist of CPI (M)’s party organ ‘Daily Desher Katha’ Bikash Kole (79) passed away early this morning in GBP hospital after prolonged suffering from old age ailments. He is survived by his cancer patient wife Chhanda Das and only married daughter. Bikash Kole’s mortal remains were brought to Agartala Press Club of which he was a member and the members of the club including the secretary Romakanta Deb and president Pranab Sarkar paid their tributes to him.

Bikash Kole, originally a man from Memari area under Kalna subdivision in Burdwan district of West Bengal, had come to Tripura way back in 1977 and settled down here , working as a photo-journalist. After the left front had come to power for the first time in 1978 he was given a government job in the department of Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) from where he had retired in 2005. He had married Chhanda Das , sister of late celebrated Rabindra Sangeet singer and teacher Samir Das. He kept up his association with the ‘Daily Desher Katha’ and after retirement purchased a flat in ‘Shyamali Apartment’ near the ILS hospital. Before coming to Tripura he had been active in documentary film making in Calcutta and had made a film on the waste disposal system under the Calcutta corporation.

During the past several years he had been suffering from various ailments ,specially heart disease and gradually scaled down his professional activity as a photo-journalist. In his retired life he was also a member of the CPI (M) party. The news editor of ‘Daily Desher Katha’ Tapas Debnath said that Bikash Kole’s death has widened a void in the world of journalism following the death early this year of another Daily Desher Katha veteran Kajal Datta. As a person and a professional Bikash Kole was dear to all and the media community here condoled his passing away , paying rich tribute to him as a photo-journalist and a good-hearted man.

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