The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Centre for handicapped celebrates 30th anniversary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 10, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Centre for handicapped celebrates 30th anniversary

Staff Reporter

“Government to focus on financially empowering the disabled”

— PHOTO: S.S.KUMAR

HELPING THE NEEDY : Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna distributes an equipment to a beneficiary at the anniversary celebrations of Life Help Centre for the Physically Challenged in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: The 30th anniversary of the Life Help Centre for the Handicapped in Neelankarai was celebrated on Saturday.

Participating in the function, Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna detailed various welfare measures initiated by the State Government. She said the emphasis was to financially empower the disabled.

The Minister, who distributed aid to physically challenged people, commended the efforts of the Centre, and the German agencies that fund it, for imparting life skills to the disabled.

The Minister said one of the measures aimed at improving the nutritional status of poor children was the three eggs a week scheme for schoolchildren introduced by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.

Early intervention centres

Commissioner for the Disabled V.K. Jeyakodi said 60 early intervention centres across the State would start functioning in three months to identify children with disabilities. He said as per the 2001 census, Tamil Nadu had 1.6 million people with disabilities and over 70 per cent of them lived in rural areas. He said the government had introduced several schemes for their benefit.

It had proposed to set up early intervention centres for children below six years in all the districts based on the feedback it received for its project for hearing impaired children.

German funding agencies representatives, including Heribert Kamps, chairman, Indien Hilfswerk; Rudi Frick, president, AWO International; Edgar Johnen, executive director of Lebenshilfe fuer Behinderte e.V Heinsberg, highlighted the achievements of the Centre.

Senior officials of the German Consulate in Chennai were present.

Centre director Blaze Kannan said the facility was a result of active cooperation between the State Government and the German Consulate in Chennai.

In the next few weeks, the Centre would open a rural rehabilitation centre in Cuddalore and a centre in Kashmir for children who lost their families in the earthquake.

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