The relatives of a woman who died at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, staged a protest in front of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank on Wednesday with her body alleging that the bank refused to give money for her treatment even though the family had a deposit of ₹28 lakh there.
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Philomina, 70, a retired government nurse, died on Wednesday following infection in her eye and brain. Her husband Devassy Erattuparambil, of Mapranam, said the family had approached the bank many times for money for providing expert treatment to her.
“In the past six months, I approached the bank like a beggar many times at least to get ₹50,000. We had a deposit of around ₹28 lakh in the bank, the entire savings of our life. Bank employees turned me back each time saying they did not have money. They even behaved rudely as if I was begging for their favour. I had a guilty feeling that I could not give expert treatment to my wife. We have deposited even her pension in the bank,” said Mr. Devassy, 80.
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The kin along with the local people sat with the body in front of the bank blocking the road. They said they would not disperse until Higher Education Minister R. Bindu, MLA of the constituency, visited them. Traffic on the Thrissur- Irinjalakuda- Kodungalloor route was disrupted.
“The bank, which had cheated more than ₹300 crore from depositors was still looting them. This is murder committed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led bank,” Jose Vallur, Thrissur District Congress Committee president, who joined the sit-in, said.
“The CPI(M) has not taken any action against corruption in the bank. People have been denied justice for the past one year. Party leaders are not even responding to the issue,” A. Nagesh, State secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who too joined the protest, said.
The bank is under administrative rule at present. The protesters dispersed after the bank promised to give ₹2 lakh for the woman’s funeral.