BENGALURU: The state government has decided to accord state funeral to Padma Shri awardee ‘Sulagitti’ Narasamma. However, the woman who could check the pulse of a foetus, and a name that became synonymous with safe deliveries of babies in villages, made a lone journey from Bengaluru to Tumakuru.The nonagenarian mother of 12 and grandmother of 22, who has been awarded this year’s Padma Shri award, helped deliver more than 15,000 babies during her years as the go-to midwife of Krishnapura, a remote village in Pavagada taluk in Karnataka.
Her son Pavagada Sriram, en route to Tumakuru on Tuesday night, said, “It is not that nobody visited my mother. At noon, before my mother’s demise, Opposition party leader BS Yeddyurappa visited the hospital.
After her demise, at around 3 pm, Deputy CM Parameshwara also visited. The Tumakuru DC has assured us of taking care of arrangements for public viewing and burial, but for this journey till Tumakuru I am alone with my mother.”
“I don’t know why no government official accompanied us. In the past, other Padma Shri awardees have got different treatment on their demise,” Sriram said.The Superintendent of Police Dr Divya V Gopinath said, “The administration has made all arrangements for the public darshan at the Glass House where the mortal remains will be placed.” The site of the burial will also be decided after consulting the family members on Wednesday.