By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 28 Aug: Senior litterateur, writer, journalist and historian Dr Yogambar Singh Bartwal passed away this morning at Kailash Hospital here. He was ailing from Cancer for some time. He was founder Chairman of the ‘Chandra Kunwar Bartwal Shodh Sansthan’ established in memory of the legendary poet from Garhwal Chandra Kunwar Bartwal. He was considered to be a walking encyclopaedia on the history and literature of Uttarakhand, in general, and of Garhwal, in particular. His mortal remains were cremated in Haridwar today.
He was born in village Raduva in Pokhri Block of Chamoli district on 25 July, 1948, to Kasturba Devi and Vijay Singh Bartwal. His primary education was in his native village, following which he completed his High School from Nagnath in Pokhri and Intermediate from Chhinka (Gamshali). He did his MA in Political Science and LLB from Srinagar Garhwal University (District Pauri). He also did a diploma in Journalism from the Indian School of Journalism in New Delhi. He also served as an Optician with Doon Hospital for some years.
Dr Bartwal took to writing articles, letters and travelogues. He wrote on the poetry, art and culture of Uttarakhand. Many of his works have been broadcast by Akashwani, too.
Among the published books of Dr Yogamber Singh Bartwal, some important ones are “Life Philosophy of Chandra Kunwar Bartwal”, a book on eye donation, etc. He also wrote a biography of journalist and political leader Narendra Singh Bhandari and on the poetry of Chandra Kunwar Bartwal. Dr Yogambar Singh Bartwal established the ‘Chandra Kunwar Bartwal Shodh Sansthan, Uttarakhand’, to compile the literature of Chandra Kunwar Bartwal.
Dr Yogambar Bartwal had to work really hard and tirelessly till his last to collect the scattered literature of Chandra Kunwar Bartwal as much as possible. It was due to his efforts that the Government College at Nagnath Pokhri was named after Chandra Kunwar Bartwal and a 7-day fair is organised at Nagnath Pokhari on the death anniversary of Chandra Kunwar Bartwal for the last several years.
His death has been condoled by many journalists and other dignitaries, like Bina Bhatt, Dr Shekhar Pathak, Samar Bhandari, Rajeev Lochan Shah, Dr BK Joshi, Ranu Bisht, Jay Prakash Panwar, Sanjay Kothiyal, Bhanu Prakash, Jagmohan Rautela, Dr Sushil Upadhyay Batrohi, Madan Mohan Kandwal, Ravindra Singh Bisht, Hemchandra Saklani, Prerna Raturi, Geeta Gairola, Bharti Pandey, Ganesh Khugshal ‘Gani’, Arun Kukshal, Lokesh Navani, Rajesh Saklani, Vijay Gaur amongst others.