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Employment > Awards > N.C.P.E.D.P. - Shell Helen Keller Awards 2002

Dinesh Gupta: Taking the fight onto the streets

Dinesh has a strong will and ability to make things happen. His positive outlook to life and sheer determination are an example for others to follow.

Dinesh Gupta is known for bringing traffic to a halt, and forcing buses to stop by standing in their path, like a modern-day gladiator.

He moves around with the assistance of a rollator, a device that he uses for support, and more recently, for challenging buses! But he does not take life-threatening risks out of a sense of adventure. Dinesh does it to prove a point: that he has as much right to travel to work in public transport as anybody else.

Having been associated with the Spastics Society of Northern India (S.S.N.I.) since 1992, he opened a photocopying shop at Gargi College, New Delhi after completing his vocational training at S.S.N.I. Unable to travel in any public transport, he was completely dependent on S.S.N.I. vans for commuting. That meant leaving his shop and returning home at 2 pm. Naturally, he lost out on the most lucrative hours of business.

Having had enough of confinement and dependency, the intrepid Dinesh, decided one day to commute by the Delhi Transport Corporation (D.T.C.) bus. Dinesh ventured headlong into Delhi’s traffic, risking his life and limb, ignoring insults and taunts, stopped a bus in the middle of the road by standing in its path and reached his destination a rejuvenated man with a game plan.

Dinesh then founded Abhiyan Disabled Friends Club. Abhiyan has launched an employment programme that helps organisations locate appropriate candidates with disabilities. Dinesh also filed a case against D.T.C. before the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. After many hearings, he finally won the case.

Dinesh is now advocating for lesser interest rates on loans for disabled entrepreneurs and higher returns on their investments. Inspite of several representations, the Reserve Bank of India is yet to accede.

Abhiyan Disabled Friends Club
7, East Avenue Road
East Punjabi Bagh
New Delhi 110 026

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