Saalumarada Thimmakka to return awards

 Environmentalist Saalumarada Thimmakka has decided to return all awards conferred on her by the State government, upset over the fact that her request for a maternity hospital in her village was not heeded.

She wants the hospital built at Hulikal in Magadi taluk of Bengaluru Rural district.
Thimmakka, who was attending a sapling distribution programme at Basaralu in the taluk, said, “The government had honoured me with several awards, in recognition of my efforts in protecting the environment by planting saplings. However, my long-pending request for a maternity hospital for the benefit of women in my village has been ignored by the government. Hence, I have decided to return the awards.”

Thimmakka lamented that “my frequent plea for a monthly pension and a house has fallen on deaf ears. What will I do with the awards?” she questioned.

Thimmakka said, she had nurtured trees on either side of the four-kilometre stretch of a road in Magadi taluk with the money earned as a labourer.