He awaits govt courtesy for achievement in sports

TNN

Mangalore,12 August 2011: The state government was generous in its felicitations to achievers from Karnataka, who bagged medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games. But still awaiting the same courtesy, if not a windfall, is Dhanraj (21), a special child with learning disability, who bagged several medals at the international, national and state-levels in roller skating and other athletic events.

 

Dhanraj, a student of St Agnes Special School here, had bagged two gold medals and one silver in roller skating events at the Special Olympics Bharath National Games held in Hyderabad in October 2005. Similarly, he bagged a silver medal and a bronze at Special Olympics Summer Games held at Shanghai in China in 2007. In addition, Dhanraj also bagged more than 25 medals in roller skating and athletic events at various national and state-level competitions. However, there were only few to lend him helping hand even when his parents were literally struggling to meet both ends.

Dhanraj’s father K Madhava, an autorickshaw driver, told TOI that he had spent nearly Rs 1 lakh for his son’s treatment. His hands were fractured during practice on two different occasions and doctors corrected his hands by inserting steel rods through major surgeries on both occasions. While his right hand was fractured during a practice session at Mangala stadium here, he sustained a major injury on his left hand hours before he was getting ready to participate in the Special Olympics Summer Games held in China. However, Dhanraj could bag silver medal in the 2 x100 relay roller skating event, Madhava said.

 

While Mangalore City Corporation gifted Rs 50,000, Infosys had given him a cheque of Rs 5,000. "I met and submitted memorandum to B S Yeddyurappa when he was the chief minister. I requested AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi when he visited the city, submitted a memorandum to then district in-charge minister J Krishna Palemar, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLC Kota Srinivas Poojari, and several other political leaders and officials. All my efforts went in vain and I still struggle to keep the hearth at home going," he added.

 

Madhava, who earns less than Rs 300 a day, has to look after his wife Leela, challenged daughter Nandini (19) and his 85-year-old mother Devaki. Moreover, the tiny house on the 1.5 cents of land at Saripalla does not belong to him. "I had applied for a house under Ashraya scheme twice in 2009 and 2010, but it has not been accepted so far," he lamented, adding that a major portion of his income goes to banks which provided loans to him.