Sudarshanam project helps elderly and differently-abled in Sabarimala

 
Sudarshanam project has come in help for two elderly mothers who have lost in Pampa late in the night. Devaki and Kasturi, hailing from Tamil Nadu, wandered in Pampa for hours waiting for their relatives to pick them up. They have lost while they were returning after the Sabarimala darshan.  Sudarshanam Project volunteers have consoled the mothers who were struggling to find relatives. Then Sudarshanan volunteers tool them to the rest center and the bilingualist there asked them their whereabouts. Relatives were contacted on the phone after getting the phone numbers from them. Meanwhile, relatives searched their mothers elsewhere in Pampa but could not find them. Knowing this, Sudarshanam activists brought their mothers from Pampa to Nilakkal and handed them over to their relatives.

Sudarsanam volunteers also made a timely effort to find two missing children and take them to their parents. The Sudarshanam project was launched this month under the aegis of the Department of Social Justice and the District Administration with the aim of reuniting elderly and differently-abled people getting lost in Sabarimala. The Sudarshanam scheme provides services with the help of trained volunteers and translators. Sudarshanam project provides the service of National Service Scheme volunteers and palliative activists from various colleges. In the meantime, Sudarshanam volunteers have become a helping hand for 3390 pilgrims who have struggled due to physical disabilities.

Many pilgrims have been provided medical care through the Emergency Medical Center. The Sudarshanam rest house in Pampa has served 585 pilgrims so far. Special assistance was provided to 271 pilgrims who had to struggle in the queue for darshan. Sudarshanam Information Counter has been started in Pampa and Nilakkal. Bilingual services were also provided there. As a part of the project, the Forest Department has made arrangements for seating facilities in the forest areas.

District Collector PB Nooh said the Sudarshanam project is based on the policy and the vision of equal rights of persons of old age and disability at all levels. Sudarshanam is being implemented by the District Probation Office with the support of Devaswom Board, Health Department, Forest Department, and Police Departments.