New Delhi: Salumarada Thimmakka blessed President of India Ram Nath Kovind while she was receiving the Padma Shri award from him today (March 16) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

This year’s Padma awards were being awarded at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Kovind.

The audience witnessed the rare sight of Salumarada Thimmakka blessing the President with awe.

Salumarada Thimmakka, the 107-year-old environmentalist from Karnataka has planted 385 banyan trees along a 4-km stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur and has been maintaining them.

She used her own meagre resources to plant these trees. She along with her husband, used to carry four pails of water for a distance of 4 km to water the saplings. The plants were also protected from cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs.