Awards aren’t new to Kakkamallan, the gardener at Udagamandalam station. That too for maintaining the garden in keeping with the heritage status of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR). But receiving one from his bosses at Southern Railway was very special.
Kakkamallan was on Wednesday given a spot cash award of Rs 5,000 by the general manager of Southern Railway, RK Kulshrestha, who was impressed with the way the garden at Udagamandalam station had been maintained.
Today, the garden is the centre of attraction for many tourist and nature aficionados visiting Ooty, especially via NMR.
The garden had won the rolling trophy for the best maintained garden from Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation during 1999-2002 and 2004-2007. It also had bagged the first prize for the best maintained garden on a row from 2011 to 2017 from the department of horticulture, government of Tamil Nadu.
An official release from the Southern Railway said Kulshrestha was inspecting the Ooty station when he appreciated Kakkamallan’s efforts.
U Subba Rao, divisional railway manager, Salem division, also congratulated the gardener for winning accolades and appreciation from the general manager of Southern Railway.