An era in broadcast news came to an end on Saturday with the demise of veteran news anchor Neelum Sharma. One of the founding anchors of DD News and winner of Nari Shakti, Sharma (50) lost her battle to cancer.
Neelum began her career in 1995 and anchored programs like ‘Tejasvini’ and ‘Badi Charcha’ and made 60 documentaries for DD News. In her two-decade career did win a number of awards like Best News Anchor Award, Aadhi Abadi Award and KPS Gill Fearless Journalist Award for her work. Her program ‘Tejasvini’ brought the achievements of women from some of the most remote parts of India into the limelight.
Twitter Condoles Neelum’s Demise
As someone who grew up watching DD news and all its various discussions and programmes religiously, this comes as a very sad news.#NeelumSharma had an unparalleled grace and fluidity over the language. RIP. https://t.co/SVOacnaO2M
— Sreejan Shandilya (@sreejanifs) August 17, 2019
In my school days, we didn’t have a cable TV. So used to watch DD National and DD News, and a significant part of my life was spent watching her on daily news. Saddened to hear about her demise. Rip #NeelumSharma pic.twitter.com/mOY3VxHCL3
— Mayur RB (@MayorWolverine) August 17, 2019
Heartfelt tributes to senior journalist & anchor from @IIMC_India 1988-89 batch #NeelumSharma Ma’am on her untimely demise today. It’s a major loss for media fraternity.
She was a committed professional who worked & lived with her own #BrandofJournalism.
Will be always missed. pic.twitter.com/AQdT8MnN9X— Rajan Jayasawal (@rajan_ruhaan) August 17, 2019
She was on of the finest, cool & composed TV News Anchor. #RIP #NeelumSharma #ddnews https://t.co/xwpvUJQE6N
— Brajesh Misra (@brajeshlive) August 17, 2019
DD Colleagues Left Shocked
The CEO of Prasar Bharti, Shashi Shekhar, offered condolences on the behalf of the organisation “I am shocked to hear that Neelum Sharma, the celebrated Anchor of Doordarshan is no more. She truly symbolised ‘Naari Shakti’ the national award she received from the Hon. President. We have lost our ‘Tejaswini’,” Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash tweeted.
Supriya Sahu, DG, Doordarshan, expressed grief over the death of Neelum Sharma, highlighting her role in establishing DD News as a national brand. “Extremely sad news of the sudden demise of our colleague at DD News Ms Neelum Sharma. For over 20 years with #Doordarshan, she played a key role in establishing Brand #DDNews making inroads in people’s heart. Heartfelt condolences from DD Family. We will miss you badly,” she tweeted.
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