JOIN USMadhav Bhat, owner of Hotel Srinivas Deluxe, passed way on Tuesday. He was 61.
He had been suffering from a malignant condition of the throat for many years and it is said to have worsened in the last few days. Though he was admitted to the ICU at Yenepoya Hospital here on Monday, he passed away the following day.
His body was taken to his hometown Bhatkal and the funeral was performed on Wednesday. Madhav Bhat is survived by his wife Rajani and a son Aditya.
In recent years, Madhav Bhat had become famous on social media as a Good Samaritan who fed poor school kids with mid-day meal at a nominal charge of only Rs 5.
Bhat had embraced this philanthropic mission more than 25 years back and long before the government introduced free mid-day meal scheme. Any school kid could walk into his hotel and have a rice and sambar mid-day meal by paying just Rs 5. Over 1,000 children availed this facility every day (except weekends).
After the state government introduced free mid-day meal scheme in schools, the number dwindled to about 200. Due to steep increase in cost of ingredients, the price of the lunch was also hiked to Rs 10.
Many of the beneficiaries of Bhat's kind act would often drop in to meet him long after they had grown up and found employment in different parts of the world. Hailing from a prominent family of priests of Shirali in Uttar Kannada district, his father Vedamurthy Srinivas Bhat, was the head priest of Shri Mahaganapathy Mahamaya Temple, Shirali. Madhav Bhat was the youngest among seven sons and two daughters. He did his schooling in Canara High School (Main) and higher education at Canara College, Mangaluru.