July 15 will mark the comeback of the 144 year old “Behar Herald”, to be re-launched in colour. The Bengalee Association, Bihar, is trying to revive the oldest English tabloid of the state, and among the pioneering English language newspapers in the country.

Behar Herald was started in 1874. It was published by Guru Prasad Sen, a rich landlord from Dhaka, who had settled in Patna. Sen, who used to practise as a lawye, shifted the ownership of this paper to Bengalee Association, Bihar, in 1938. The Tabloid was published regularly till 1987, when it folded up due to financial crisis.

Association secretary Bidyut Pal said that the Herald would be published in the same format as it used to 141 years ago.

“The difference is that the tabloid will be in colour instead of the black and white. On July 15, we will start the tabloid with four pages. Later, we will increase four more pages. The tabloid originally had eight pages,” he said.

Talking about the features of the tabloid, Bishwanath Dey, joint secretary of Bengalee Association, Bihar, recalled: “We used to have a column,’ Patna Diary’, which  covered the happenings in Patna. Besides, we had All India Diary column for nation-related important news. We will revive these columns.”

Members of Bengalee Association, Bihar, are confident about the tabloid’s popularity after its re-launch.

“There are around 13 lakh Bengalis in the state. People of the Bengali community are well aware of this tabloid. So they will definitely like to stay connected. We are sure to win the hearts of people because our honest reporting and good local coverage,” Dey told a local newspaper.