With the Karnataka government maintaining silence on meeting the medical expenses of legendary singer Manna Dey, who breathed his last on October 24 here, the singer’s family is planning to apply for a bank loan to clear the bill.
Sources close to the family of the singer said his daughter Shumita Deb and son-in-law Jnan Ranjan Deb are planning to raise a personal loan to clear the hospital dues. The total cost of hospitalisation is around Rs. 42 lakh of which the family has paid Rs. 14 lakh.
“The family is also trying to get Rs. 30 lakh from a relative who allegedly siphoned off Dey’s money,” the sources said.
Mr. Jnan Ranjan Deb said though several people within the country and abroad had offered help, the family refused to accept it. “My father-in-law was a disciplined person who refused to take money from anyone including me. Such being the case, we did not want to accept money from his fans. We have been appealing to the West Bengal government to ensure that our relative returns that Rs. 30 lakh. We can pay the bill with that amount but there is no response from the government.”
When Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited the family on October 25 to express condolences, they appealed to him to help them repay the bill. It is said that though Mr. Siddaramaiah promised to sort out their problems, nothing has been done so far.
Sources in the government said no decision had been taken on the issue. A senior official told The Hindu though the government was sympathetic, it was not in a position to give any commitment.
Meanwhile, learning about the family’s predicament, Gurudas Dasgupta, Communist Party of India MP, has written to the Prime Minister requesting him to bail out the family as the Karnataka government had remained non-committal. He also offered to pay the bill through his MP Local Area Development Fund if the norms were relaxed.
However, according to sources in Narayana Hrudayalaya, the hospital had neither asked the family to pay up nor had the family said anything about paying the remaining amount.
Manna Dey was admitted to the hospital after he developed severe urinary infection and acute neuro-respiratory problems. All through his hospital stay he was on ventilator and in the Medical Intensive Care Unit . He underwent dialysis thrice a week.
