Passport Office Gives Passport To Uplift Their Life
Physical deformity or impairments can never be an impediment for those who have a dauntless spirit. The story of five differently-abled persons eking out a living by filling up online application forms at the Regional Passport Office here is a testament to the saying - ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’. Five differently-abled persons G Kalpana, C Samuel, V Sornalatha, Rajarajeshwari and Poonkodi are backoffice staff at the passport office here. “They are now a happy lot earning Rs 60 for every application they fill. Individually they would be earning anywhere between Rs 300 to Rs 500 per day,” regional passport officer B Balamurugan said, adding that free space to work and power have been given to them.
G Kalpana, a resident of Singanallur, said, “I felt as if my life was doomed as my parents, who were daily wage labourers, found it extremely difficult to take care of me. I finished my undergraduate course in Tamil”. “I got my higher diploma in computer application and scouted for a job in and around Coimbatore. I managed to get a part-time job as a data entry operator in a few private companies”, she said, adding that knocking at the doors of government departments failed to evoke any response.
“But for DRO Jasmin’s initiative, I would not have got the work at the Passport Office,” she said.
C Samuel, affected by polio, said, “After schooling, I stopped studying because of my family circumstances. However, I got trained in computer applications and got a temporary opening as a data entry operator.” The story of V Sornalatha is heartrending as she has a hearing impairment while her 10-year-old son is physically challenged. “Getting a job was very difficult because of my condition.
None of the people whom I met was ready to employ me,” she recounted. She had to run the family with a meagre income of her husband Vijayakumar who is a daily labourer. “After getting the work at Passport Office, I am able to keep wolf from the door,” she said. Now she has mobilised funds through a cooperative bank to purchase a computer and printer.
Rajarajeshwari’s both legs were affected by polio and she too found it very ahrd to end up with a good job. “Without the help of someone, I couldn’t go anywhere; my husband Karthikeyan is a carpenter. I got my diploma in commercial practice hoping to get a clerical placement in a private concern. But nothing materialised,” she said. Poonkodi of Kovaipudur with one of her limbs affected in a fire mishap managed to complete her B Com through distance education.
District Rehabiliation Officer C Jasmin told that there is a plethora of schemes for the benefit of the disabled persons. “The National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation extends loans at a low interest of 4 per cent for women and 5 per cent for men to start self-employment schemes,” she said, and added there is lack of interest among the disabled persons for starting their own venture. “But for a few, majority of them approach the District Rehabilitation Office (DRO) seeking financial assistance and for pension benefits. That’s the tendency prevailing now,” she said.
