Camp comes as ray of hope for specially abled

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, December 22

For the last several years, Praveen, mother of special girl child Tammana (8), has been moving from pillar to post to secure disability certificate for her daughter, but in vain. However, a special camp where all relevant departments, besides doctors from Government Medical College, Faridkot, were brought under one roof came as a ray of hope for mothers like Praveen, who finally managed to get her daughter a testimonial for her disability.

Born with multiple deformities, life had already unfolded whole lot of miseries for Tammana as she lost her father soon after birth. Thereafter, abject poverty and burden of bringing up an infirm girl forced Praveen to work as a domestic help.

Tamanna’s case is not an isolated one. Hundreds of disabled children who reported at the camp had remained deprived of welfare schemes as they could not secure disability certificate due to lack of documents and resources. Another boy Manthan, 13, who lost his eyesight due to TB a few years ago, is the son of daily wager Bhola. Bhola too had no idea how to get a disability certificate, but he felt relieved when he came to know about this camp where his son would get such certificate.

The camp was organised by the district administration at the residence of local MLA Parminder Singh Pinki to help specially-abled children of the district procure disability certificate. The MLA said, “A team of 10 specialist doctors checked 2,000 patients and their names were registered for issuing them disability certificates. The idea behind organising the camp at my residence was to prevent these special children the hassle of going to various offices and hospitals.”

Deputy Commissioner Chander Gaind said all cases pending for issuing disability certificate for last so many years would be sorted out within days. “We will also work on a system where special children can be provided such certificates at their doorsteps,” he said.

Shelly Kamboj, president of an NGO that works for such children, said children suffering from mental disability which includes retardation, autism, cerebral palsy and others were covered under this camp.

“I had lost all hopes for procuring a disability certificate as I was always turned away on the pretext of presenting supporting documents, but this camp has come as a boon for me,” said Bagga Singh, who wishes to apply for government job now.

Earlier, a family of five comprising mother, father besides three children, all of whom are differently-abled had sought euthanasia from the Prime Minister after whatever resources the family had got dried over a period of time forcing them a live a life of penury. No government official nor any politician ever took note of the family’s situation whose every effort to seek help came to naught till the issue was highlighted by The Tribune following which help started pouring in from various quarters for the family of Manohar Lal from Guruharsahai.