Kerala: S Ananthan to roll on, sans help

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: S. Ananthan, a physically-challenged child studying in ninth standard at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom received a motorised wheel chair on Monday, thanks to Ekta, a campaign aimed at empowering wheelchair-bound people, launched by Eric Stephen, KSU state secretary. Ekta has been replicated in all the colleges under Delhi University after NSUI president Fairoz Khan took interest in the initiative by the KSU leader. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had launched the  logo of Ekta last June.

Ekta is joint venture of Eric Stephen and Preethi Sreeniv-asan, former Tamil Nadu women's cricket team captain. Ekta has been successful in procuring three electric wheel chairs costing Rs 1.80 lakh each. Ananthan is the first one to get it.  The 14-year-old student had issues with his spinal cord when he was born. Corrective surgery held at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College aggravated his condition rendering him paralyzed for life. Son of R. Sreekanth and Archana Sadasivan, both state government employees, Ananthan is a resident of ‘Sreevishakh’ at Pattom Nalanda Gardens at Pottakuzhi. Ananthan is an excellent painter and it was during a painting contest that he happened to meet Eric .

“I am so happy as I always wanted to be independent. Until now, it was my father who dropped and picked me from the school. Unlike the western countries, here the people stare at me when they see me being assisted by someone while using the manual wheel chair. But now, it's going to be a thing of the past", said Ananthan . Ananthan has been receiving a monthly scholarship of Rs 500 from Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi.  The next recipients of the motorised wheel-chairs will be George K. Thomas, a 34-year-old paraplegic and Nincy Mariam Mondly, a public administration graduate. The wheel-chair will be given to them in the upcoming months.