Mangaluru : The illiterate fruit vendor devoted nearly 20 years of his life and life’s earnings towards educating children in his village will be honoured with Padma Shri award.

The orange seller Harekala Hajabba who is known as the ‘saint of letters’ chosen for the Padma Shri award for the year 2020, the award were announced on Saturday.

He was initially set up in a community mosque. It was later made the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Higher Primary School with the help of local people and the government.

His life story has also found its way into the syllabus of many universities in Karnataka. He has now been awarded Padma Shri under the ‘Social Work’ category for providing affordable education.

He now has plans to upgrade the school to a pre-university college for the children.

Tulasi Gowda, popularly known as the ‘Encyclopedia of Forest’, who has worked hard towards afforestation efforts in her surroundings, is also among the Padmashri awardees this year.