Vivek and Ritesh, both six-years-old, from Amerli district were clueless when they sensed sound for the first time in their life. A sense of amusement, mixed with fear, was visible on their faces minutes after they were given hearing aids at the camp. The kids were among the many beneficiaries of the mega event – attended by thousands of people – organised at Navsari district of south Gujarat on the occasion of prime minister Narendra Modi's birthday on Saturday. 

Pushpaben who teaches these two kids said that over 100 hearing aids were given to the school. "Kids only speak if they can hear. With the hearing aid, I am hopeful that they might at least make an effort to speak," she said.

Another beneficiary, Dhruv lost both his legs when a bus fell off a bridge in Navsari recently. He was an engineering aspirant studying in class 12. But he had to leave his studies. As he moved his wheelchair which he received in the camp, he gained the confidence to return school again and continue his studies.

"I crawled on my knees. Since I could not move I left my studies after class 8. I applied for a motor-operated cycle only three weeks back. And I have received one. I can't study now as I have become old. But I am sure I can learn something to earn a living," said Nazneen Ansari, a beneficiary from a Navsari village.



As many as 10,217 differently abled people participated in the Divyang Mega Camp. Earlier, it was a struggle for them to wheel the tricycle. The sensor sticks given to visually impaired was no less than a complicated gadget. However, there was an unmatchable smile on every face which culminated into laughter when these beneficiaries looked at their friends and families. Some were ringing the bells on their new vehicles to show their happiness.

931 Tri-cycles, 1388 Wheel Chair, 1470 Crutches, 977 Walking Sticks, 407 Braille Can, 2597 NMID Kits, 64 Cerebral-Prelacy Kits, 14 ADL Leprosy Kits, 870 Smart Phone, 443 Dezi Player for persons with visual impairment, 3868 hearing aids, BPE Digital Program and 957 artificial limbs and calipers were distributed in the progarmme.

The prime minister said that it is high time to bring differently-abled people into the mainstream.

PM Modi announced that a sign language laboratory will soon come up to introduce a common language for hearing impaired people, irrespective of the regional language. Experts are mullying ways to prepare a syllabus for the common language. 



 

Earlier, Navsari district magistrate Ravi Kumar Arora, had organised an online registration camp of differently abled people in July-August, enlisting 11,000 people from Vapi, Tapi, Surendranagar, Amreli, Navsari and Valsad districts. This mega camp was thus held to provide assistance to those beneficiaries under the aegis of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/fitting of AIDS/ Appliances (AIDP) and Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO). Apart from distributing equipments, Aadhaar counters were opened for those differently abled who were earlier rejected for not having thumb impression. On-the-spot certificates were also issued to avail state government schemes, benefits and information.

Moreover, officials announced that five national sports centres will come up for differently abled people soon. Artificial limbs and legs will also be distributed to divyangs. The government has signed MoUs with US and Germany based companies to procure the materials.


 

Meanwhile, 2500 hearing devices were distributed to physically challenged persons during the programme, which is a new world record. Till now, Australia held record of distributing highest 540 hearing devices. Also the record of distributing 346 wheel-chairs in a single programme was broken. In Navsari, 900 wheel chairs were distributed to specially able persons. Earlier this record was in name of USA.

Earlier, on the eve of PM's bday, Navsari created World Record by lighting 989 lamps in just 30 seconds.