Pune: Advait Parivar, in a joint initiative with the Hatti Ganpati Trust, has given a platform to visually challenged boys and girls to set up a food stall in front of the Ganpati pandal in Navi Peth.
Like every year, 15 boys and girls in their early twenties, mostly students, have set up the stall where tea and vada pav are available. The Hatti Ganpati Trust allots space to them to earn during the festive season. Not only do they make the vada pavs and tea themselves, they handle the money counter expertly.
They have all been trained to cook vada pav and make tea before being given a chance to sell it at the stall. Students work in rotation so that everyone gets a chance to work in these 10 days.
The initiative was first launched in 1997 to promote the social message of economical upliftment of visually-challenged citizens. Sarang Sathe, Trustee Member of Hatti Ganpati Trust said, “Hatti Ganpati Trust is giving platform for the last 20 to 22 years in the form of space allotment to set up a food stall, where apart from vada pav and tea, they also sell home-made snacks like laddoos and chakli.”
The stall opens at 6 pm when the number of devotees visiting the pandal starts increasing. They work till 10 pm and earn Rs 1,000 to 1,200 every day.
Advait Parivar, a group that has 20 to 25 specially-abled persons in their fold, encourages boys and girls to become self-reliant. Santosh Dimbale, an activist with Advait Parivar said, “Every person in our Parivar believes in self-respect and having dignity in society, so setting a food stall is the privilege for our members.”
