Jorhat deputy commissioner Virendra Mittal has done it again.
Soon after initiating the move for people to donate toilets to those who didn’t have one in a unique concept, Daan Toilet, (trending on the net), he initiated the generation of additional money from the people here for the Reach out and Respond project also known as Sohari for the disabled.
While the former was his own initiative to provide toilets to the people in the district left out in the 2011 base year survey, the latter is a government scheme.
Mittal this time managed to garner Rs 7.5 Lakh from the public and brought in more than 3000 disabled accompanied by parents and helpers from all over the district for treatment at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) and consequent registration as disabled.
The district administration has recorded the entire exercise in a documentary, A Ray of Hope, which has been uploaded in YouTube on Thursday the link of which is https://youtu.be/5Y78-jHQy-g.
A Ray of Hope itself makes for an interesting watch beginning with a tribute to Bhupen Hazarika and his Manuhe manuhor baabe playing in the background.
What is best about the 10-minute documentary is that it is not a government propaganda as such visuals are wont to be but gives equal space to the donors who made the exercise possible, the disabled, the doctors and the administrative machinery.
As is stated by Mittal, this is a first, with the 24 day camp being sponsored entirely with the help of individuals, NGOs, institutes, society at large.
The camp was attended by 8000 people and the amount collected was Rs 7.5, working out to less than Rs 100 per head. Out of the 3697 screened, 3037 were certified as disabled so that they could avail the benefits.