Punjab Junction Newspaper | 26 January 2022
Legendary singer Sandhya Mukherjee, 90, who refused to accept the Padma Shri award on Tuesday, was rushed to hospital by the West Bengal government on Thursday afternoon following illness.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the administration to take her to the state-run SSKM Hospital through a green corridor that was quickly formed by the traffic police. She was admitted at the Woodburn Ward and a medical board was announced. An RT-PCR test was done to see if she had been infected by Covid-19.
Members of the family said she was running fever since Wednesday night and had signs of lung congestion.
“She was feeling drowsy and had breathing problems. Our family physician advised that she should be hospitalized,” a member of the family, who did not want to be named, said.
Mukherjee suffered injury on her waist a few days ago after a fall in her room, members of her family said. The veteran singer rarely interacted with outsiders but received many phone calls after the controversy over the Padma award.
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Sandhya Mukherjee and tabla maestro Anindya Chatterjee refused the Padma awards offered by the central government on the eve of Republic Day.
The focus of most people was on the Centre’s decision to confer the Padma Shri award on a 90-year-old singer whose illustrious career spans over 70 years. The student of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan has sung thousands of songs for Indian cinema and has albums of modern, classical and semi-classical music. She received the national award in 1970 for play-back singing.
Mukherjee’s relatives told the media that she expressed her refusal when a central government official called her up on Tuesday afternoon. She said accepting the Padma Shri, the lowest in the rank of the civilian awards, would be demeaning for her.
Some noted artists and members of the civil society called a press conference in Kolkata on Wednesday to condemn the Centre’s decision.
