3 from city to be honoured on National Disability Day

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 1

While making the whole world move with their grit and determination, three city residents have been selected for the state-level Disability Day award this year. This includes 22-year-old blind cricketer Tejinder Singh, 32-year-old Vinod Kumar, a polio affected person who is currently employed as a PA to Joint Commissioner Rajiv Verma, and 60-year-old social activist Amarjit Singh Anand.

While Tejinder has been chosen for bringing laurels to the state by winning the Cricket World Cup for Blind in 2014 and Friendship Cup at England, he has also won many international tournaments where he was declared man of the match. He has recently completed his masters from the Punjab Technical University (PTU) and plans to pursue a PhD.

An elated Tejinder while speaking to Jalandhar Tribune said he was happy to hear the news but it would have been of great help if the state government offers jobs to those winning this award. “The state has 3 per cent quota for disabled people in the government jobs. With the government announcing around 1 lakh jobs, the real award will be to secure our future and game by accommodating us in any of the department,” said Tejinder.

Also, Vinod Kumar, who is presently serving as PA to Joint Commissioner Rajiv Verma at the Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar, is a great poet and story teller. He has many poems and stories to his credit. When contacted Kumar thanked the state government for the award and said that he would like to work for the rehabilitation of disabled people in the state. “Many times, people with 90 per cent disability come to the MC office for some work, it would be great if some special counters be opened for them,” he said.

Nevertheless, Amarjit Singh Anand requires no introduction. This 60-year-old got the inspiration from his daughter who was a Down syndrome child. According to him, he himself doesn’t know as to when from a doting father he became enlighten for other parents. “The biggest problem in our society is that parent of such children do not come in open. They keep their children behind closed doors. Due to this, many children with acute disability goes unnoticed. I am trying hard to identify them and bring all of them to a common platform,” said Anand. The three would be getting honoured by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment in Ludhiana on December 3, the National Disability Day.