Woman nurtured over a 100 trees in Bagalkot

HUBBALLI: Yellamma Bhovi, 70, used to witness the weekly cattle fair while working at the APMC premises at Jalihal village in Bagalkot district, which used to take place under the hot sun. She was a daily wage employee. She requested her superiors to plant more than a 100 saplings in the premises, about 23 years ago. She took the responsibility of looking after them.Now the saplings have turned into over a 100 trees.
She extended her duty time by an additional two hours per day to look after the plants. Now these trees give shelter to thousands of animals and visitors to the APMC premises. Due to her selfless work, the people of Bagalkot recognized her as the Saalumarada Timmakka of the district.
Yellamma said that she started working as daily wage worker at the APMC premises, on a contract basis, 30 years ago. “My starting salary was Rs 75 per month. As I was a midwife, people used to give me foodgrains, if I helped a woman from their family deliver a child. My husband the late Churchappa Bhovi was also a daily wage worker in the gram panchayat. As I used to see animals suffering in the heat, I repeatedly requested officials to plant saplings. Finally, APMC officials arranged over 100 saplings, and I took the responsibility of looking after them. So, I started going for work at 8am instead of 10am, and used to take care of the plants till 6pm, after office hours” she recalled.