Wheelchair cricketers protest relocation

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 11

Empower, an NGO for special children, and a few other NGOs, along with cricketers of the Wheelchair Cricket Society, held a demonstration at Sector 17 against the move of the Social Welfare Department of Chandigarh Administration to relocate wheelchair cricketers staying at Cheshire Home, Sector 21.

Captain’s take

Veer Sandhu, captain, Wheelchair Cricket Society, who is also a member of the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team, said: “We have been asked to shift to EWS flats at Maloya at a monthly rent of Rs3,000, excluding the water and electricity bills. We don’t have any source of income and despite our contribution to bringing laurels to the country as well as Chandigarh through our performance in sports, we are being treated like this. The other accommodation of Sector 42 stadium is also not wheelchair friendly.”

The department is mulling sending these wheelchair cricketers, who have brought multiple accolades at the national and international levels, from Sector 21-A to EWS Colony, Maloya, without their consent and proper facilities — the accommodation at Maloya is in a dilapidated state. Another option being given is relocation to Sector 42 stadium, but here, too, many areas are inaccessible to the physically challenged players.

It is to be noted that the administration has decided to convert Cheshire Home into a home for the mentally ill without taking any of the stakeholders into confidence.

The administration’s move has come under fire from the wheelchair cricketers and the NGOs aligned with them, as questions are being raised as to why a rushed declaration in the newspaper calling bids from NGOs has been made at a short notice, without providing any information to the wheelchair residents of Cheshire Home. Eyebrows are also being raised as all this is being done amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It is to be noted that bids have been invited from NGOs before December 15 for involvement in the creation of a Home for mentally ill at Cheshire Home.

Sharmita Bhinder, founder of Empower, said: “Our NGO and other like-minded and helpful citizens and philanthropists have been supporting these residents in maintenance and provision of essential items such as food etc since 2015. The UT Administration has shown apathetic and inhuman attitute towards these occupants with this one-sided decision.

“They are being asked to vacate the building without any prior notice or consultation. We had been waiting for a dialogue and a solution since our last letter dated September 24 was sent to the administration. However, instead of resolving the impasse, the authorities are trying to bulldoze the wheelchair cricketers’ opinions.”

Till January, the only effort made by the Social Welfare Department for the welfare of the occupants was getting electrical repairs done. From 2015 till January 2020, the Wheelchair Cricket Society, with the help of the local NGOs Chandigarh Friends, Rotary Club, Baba Rode Shah and others, has spent their own money to take care of food, clothing, bedding, cleaning, whitewash and repairs. The UT Administration provided no funds for the same.

Bhinder added: “The residents have been funding most of the things themselves and with the support of a few NGOs. An amount of over Rs 6 lakh donated by people has been used to make the dilapidated building livable. In case the department is hell bent on making this an ego issue and go ahead with the relocation, then it should pay back the wheelchair cricketers what they have spent on the building and also provide alternative wheelchair-friendly accommodation.”