Udupi: Govt gave me nothing for planting more than 800 trees - Salumara Thimmakka

By Snehalatha, Udupi
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 24 July 2012: ‘I planted 800 trees on Kulikal road side, government recorded it as 284 trees and also recorded that it has a value of hundreds of crores rupees. But in return the government did not even pay ten paisa’ were the painful words from Salumara Thimmakka. She had come to the inaugural function of Students’ Forum at the Government First Grade College at Hiriyadka village in Udupi district on Monday.

 
She was welcomed at the College by Principal Dr. Padekallu Rama Bhatta, Lecturers and Students. On this occasion she symbolically planted a plant sapling and was speaking to the press persons. She said that State Government should keep its promise to set up a hospital in her village Hulikal in Magadi taluk of Bangalore Rural district.

 

 

 
She said that she had been urging the State Government for the last eight years to set up a government hospital in Hulikal, where about 3,500 people resided. Her adopted grandson Ballur Umesh, who was with her, said the Government should do something for Thimmakka when she was alive.

 
But it only kept giving her false assurances. When B.S. Yeddyurappa became Chief Minister, he had sanctioned a house in Surya city area of Bangalore and a hospital for Hulikal village in recognition of Ms. Thimmakka’s work. D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who succeeded Mr. Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister, sanctioned an amount of Rs. 5 lakh to Ms. Thimmakka. “But Ms. Thimmakka did not get the house, the hospital or the money,” he said.

 
Replying to a question, Ms. Thimmakka said that she had planted 800 trees in Hulikal village along with her husband the late Chikkanna. She said other than the old age pension of Rs. 400 per month, she got nothing from the Government. Asked how she looked fit and fine, Ms. Thimmakka, who claims to be 100 years old, said: “I eat ‘ragi mudde’ twice a day”.