Blind techies from Pune impress US firm

Five visually-challenged software developers from a home for the blind in Pune have impressed an American information technology (IT) businessman to such an extent that he now wants to encourage them by commissioning a second software development project.  

On Wednesday, Andrew T Duncan, ‘Andy’, CEO of the Silicon Valley-based Boardwalktech Inc, visited Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya (NAMV) at Vidyanagar, to meet the members of Techvision, the software division of the Vikasalaya.  

His visit was a dream come true for the five visually challenged members of NAMV as it has opened “a big window” in their lives. Andy has promised them another software development project after being impressed with the results of the first project undertaken by the students for Boardwalktech, a leading enterprise technology firm specialising in business data and process management solutions.  

Of these five, Siddhant Chothe, Nitin Dhavare, Vikas Waghmare and Sangpal Bhowate are completely blind, while Sandhya Murkute is partially blind. Under the guidance of NAMV trustees and well-known social workers Anand Badve and his wife Meera, these youngsters have been pursuing IT courses and honing their skills in software development.

The Pune-based Badves have been working for the multi-faceted development of the visually challenged for the last 13 years.