Wheelchair-bound man caught in red tape, seekig reimbursement for work his BPO did.
On many days, MH Manjunatha boards a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus at 4.30 am to reach Bangalore. Physically disabled, he has lost use of his legs following an accident, he is helped by the staff of the bus, who also help to get his wheelchair into the vehicle.
Once he reaches Bangalore, Manjunatha, who despite his disability, operates a rural BPO at Motagondanahalli near Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bangalore, he uses his wheelchair to go over to the offices of the deputy commissioner for Bangalore Rural district, to get reimbursed for the work his rural BPO did for the government before the assembly elections in May.
Manjunatha’s Amrutha Info Technology, which employs around 70 youths, most of them girls from nearby villages, verified documents for preparing voter identification cards.
The tahsildar of Nelamangala then, Anil Kumar, gave Manjunatha’s BPO the work of verifying documents for preparing voter IDs, but the catch is that there was no work order. Manjunatha took up the work on a oral instruction from the tahsildar, who has now been transferred to Kodagu. The BPO got half of the money for the work in advance. And now, with the tahsildar transferred, the revenue department is reluctant to pay the other half of the money, in the absence of the work order.
He approached Rajendra, Anil Kumar’s successor, but found him not helpful. When dna contacted Anil Kumar, he said that he had assigned verification of documents for the preparation of voter ID cards, and that he would help him to get reimbursed for his work.
Born in a family of poor farmers, Manjunatha completed his SSLC and completed the civil draughtsman’s course. But, while climbing a staircase, he felt a pain his right leg. Hospitals could not detect the problem, and he lost the use of right leg, and later of his left leg too.
Not losing hope, Manjunatha trained as a computer operator at Association of People with Disability (APD), NGO, at Lingarajapuram in Bangalore. He then opened Amruta Info Technology Rural BPO with financial help from a relative.
“I appeal to the authorities to clear the dues and allocate more work for our BPO for the benefit of girls who depend on it for their livelihood,” says Manjunatha, adding that he wants no sympathy, only more work for his BPO.
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