New Delhi: An orange vendor from Mangaluru in Karnataka was conferred the second highest award, the Padma Shri’ award on Monday.
Identified as Harekala Hajabba, the fruit seller spent his entire savings to bring a revolutionary change in rural education by constructing a school in Harekala Newpadupu village. The school forms a foundation for nearly 175 underprivileged children from the village.Harekala Hajabba is an illiterate has been selling oranges near the Mangalore bus since 1977, and came across a desire to bring a change in the education after he failed to converse with a foriegner.
President Kovind took to his Twitter account on Monday and wrote, “President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Shri Harekala Hajabba for Social Work. An orange vendor in Mangalore, Karnataka, he saved money from his vendor business to build a school in his village.” Satya Kumar, who is the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), tweeted about the award and wrote, “A real hero. Meet Harekala Hajabba Ji. A illiterate fruit vendor who devoted his entire life and earning’s towards educating others. He also built a ‘Primary School’ for underprivileged children in his village. Congratulations to him on being conferred with #PadmaShri. “
Known as the Akshara Santa (Letter Saint), a title that he earned through his philanthropic work, approached former MLA late UT Fareed, who sanctioned the construction in the year 2000. Hajabba now wants to invest the prize money that he has received after winning various awards in these many years in the construction of more schools in his village.