Inside a dingy corner room in front of the Chintamani supermarket, stand
a neglected photocopying machine, broken chairs, discarded tools, and
music instruments with the paint peeling off.
This is the office of the Tiruchi District Physically Handicapped
Welfare Cooperative Society, the only one of its kind outside Chennai,
where all the members have some kind of disability.
The society, formed to generate employment for persons with
disabilities, had fallen into hard times since its inception in 2007.
After five years, the society hopes for a new lease of life, thanks to
elections of office-bearers held in April this year. Elections to all
co-operative societies were suspended after 2007, and the management of
affairs was entrusted to government officials.
The society fell into neglect during the period when it was not
democratically managed, say members. “The last audit shows that we have
accrued over Rs. 70,000 in debt,” says the newly-elected vice-president
Manohar. “We lost total control of the society. We could not afford to
pay the rent and electricity bills as we did not make any profit.”
Visually challenged and physically impaired members of the
differently-abled co-operative society in Tiruchi preparing phenyl for
sale.
The photocopying machine that lies neglected brought them a profit of
more than Rs.1, 000 a month, six years ago, till the machine developed a
snag, says Saravanan, president of the society. “No one bothered to get
it repaired and we lost the business to another agency.”
Hard-to-find services
Interestingly, the co-operative society has members who are trained in
services that are hard to find in today’s use-and-throw world — persons
who repair chairs and polish tools, and tailors who mend torn clothes .
There are members like Clara, a trained blind orchestra singer and
tailor, looking for work. “Our members were given training in chalk
manufacturing, chair repair, tailoring, book-binding, umbrella making,
but none of their skills were utilised,” says Manoharan.
There is an obvious gap between training and employment . There are
close to 26,000 people with various kinds of disabilities in Tiruchi
district, says Manoharan. If the co-operative society is patronised by
government and private agencies, the livelihood of at least thousand
differently abled employees can be guaranteed, says Saravanan. While a
percentage of the income for any service goes to the members as
incentive, the rest goes to society. The society while keen to continue
its conventional trades like production of phenyl, liquid soap and chair
repair, aspires to seek new avenues like approaching the Forest
Department to employ hearing-impaired in sapling planting and the
transport department for cleaning of buses.
“We have and will continue
to appeal to the district administration and the State government to
pass an order instructing departments to purchase cleaning products from
us,” says Manoharan.
“There are close to 50 government departments
functioning here. Even if 15 of them buy our products, it can sustain
the income of people with disabilities,” feels the vice-president. Many
government departments purchase stationery from Chintamani to support
the co-operative, they point out.
The society, which has just got back
on track, needs to produce enough to get orders, feel government
officials. The society that has 100 members today, believes preliminary
orders will help in increasing membership and thus production. “What is
the use of enrolling members if there are no opportunities?” demands a
member.
Source : The Hindu , 29th May 2013 , Tiruchapalli
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