BENGALURU: Saalumarada Thimmakka, who is recovering in a private hospital in Bengaluru, is pained by the state government’s claims of footing her medical bills while she has actually been taking loans and pledging her gold medals. She was admitted with a breathing problem at Apollo Speciality Hospitals four days back.She has won 50 national and state awards and felicitated across the globe for planting and nurturing nearly 400 banyan trees, a few decades back.
But today, she is battling ill-health and requires frequent hospitalisation. Surviving on a pension of `500 per month, Thimmakka is unable to meet her medical expenses that come to around `80,000-1 lakh per admission.
Thimmakka’s foster son Umesh says the state government’s frequent announcements of providing her money and land have led to the belief that she is rich. He told Express, “Thimmakka is pained as till date, she has not received a single paisa from the government. No medical bills have been paid by the government.
Two years back, a minister announced `1 crore and 10 acres of land for her. Again, a year ago, he announced `2 crore and 5 acres of land. But all this has remained on paper.”