A panel consisting of doctors and government officials conducted personal interviews with over 300 differently abled persons from the district on Wednesday.
The panel hoped to select deserving candidates for the free motorised vehicles offered by the government for the benefit of studying, working and self-employed persons with severe cases of disability. Worth Rs. 50, 000 each, the vehicles will run on petrol and have two extra wheels for support.
Held at the SGSY training centre within the old collectorate, the selection was done by R. Shyamala, District Differently Abled Welfare Officer, orthopaedic doctors Inikoraj and Anbarasu, S. Balasubramaniam, Regional Transport Officer and P. Anand, Motor Vehicles Inspector, under the supervision of Collector Jayashree Muralidharan.
“Out of the 484 applications received, 300 had appeared for the selection process and we assessed them through three different teams,” said Ms. Shyamala. She added that candidates who were studying and those who had complete disability on both legs, but could move around using their hands were given more preference. “Apart from the team of orthopaedic doctors, the RTO checked the applicants for any problems in their eyesight and hearing capacity, to ensure their safety on roads,” she said.
Additionally, the District Differently Abled Welfare Office is conducting a camp for the distribution of artificial limbs on June13 and 14, said Ms. Shyamala. “Members of the Inner Wheel Club, Tiruchi, have offered to donate 150 artificial limbs to differently abled people and we have already taken the measurements of some of them.”
