Hyderabad: Veteran journalist Nimmakayala Sriranganath (“Ranganath”) breathed his last late Monday night. He was 80. He was briefly hospitalised for the last week, where he passed away.
In his long, illustrious career, Sriranganath worked as a correspondent with the Telugu dailies Udayam and Vaartha, and headed the bureau at AP Times, a Hyderabad-based English daily. His last assignment was with Andhra Prabha as its network editor.
Holding a strong Leftist political viewpoint all his life, Sriranganath was a close follower and aide of Tarimela Nagireddy. He did a free translation of Nagireddy’s famed work ’India Mortgaged’ into Telugu, titled ‘Taakattulo Bharatadesam’, which was hailed as a great work. He also gave a large part of his time to trade union activities, before joining the mainstream media.
An expert on the irrigation sector, particularly the delta system, Sriranganath also wrote investigative stories that led to corrections and improvement in the system.
He mentored youth and trained several journalists. He was held in high esteem by people he interacted with as a journalist as well as by his fraternity, many of whom hold him as a great inspiration.
With the belief that there is no retirement for a journalist, which was more just a profession but a lifelong passion, Sriranganath continued to remain active on social media, expressing his insightful views on a plethora of subjects of the day.
He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son, N. Vamsi Srinivas, who, in his footsteps, became a journalist and is currently Bureau Chief of Deccan Chronicle.Ranganath’s funeral will be performed in Hyderabad on Thursday. (INN)