By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 26 Sep: The birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was celebrated on 25 September by former RS MP Tarun Vijay, who organised a special and unique dialogue on Children with learning Disabilities at the ITITI, Jhajhra. The CDO, Dehradun, Nitika Khandelwal was the Chief Guest on the occasion. She urged people to create more awareness on children with special disabilities and narrated her own experiences in this context. She also asked that it be ensured Divyang persons vote in the coming state assembly elections.
District Social Welfare Officer Hemlata Pandey, Director, National Institute for the Empowerment of Visually Impaired (Divyangjan ) Dr Himangshu Das, Pradeep Rawat, Disability Commissioner, Lalit Pant, Secretary, Saksha, Anant Prakash Mehra, Aparna Das (Arunima), Rizwan Ali and Sreema Das (Latika Roy Foundation), CMO Dr Upreti, District Education Officer Dr Mukul Sati, Ambika Dhasmana, Principal, Asha (Army run special school), Pankaj Holkar, founder of Tarang special school, several world renowned specialists participated in the dialogue. There was concern expressed by experts that Uttarakhand lags behind in comparison to other states in providing specialist services for the children with special needs, especially in the sphere of learning disabilities. Tarun Vijay said that they would try to reach the hill areas to provide help to the voiceless segment of the children with special needs.
