Giving wings to polio and accident victims

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Born in London and brought up in Calcutta, Meena Dadha settled down in Chennai after her marriage. Soon her life started revolving around her family and kids.

“There was an urge to do something for the society, but I had no experience. My children were growing up and I knew it was the right time to do something and my husband Mahendra Dadha too encouraged and supported me,” said Ms Dadha.

It was in 1986 when Ms Dadha thought of helping the underprivileged after she saw the Rajasthan Youth Association from Jaipur donating artificial limbs to the needy.

“There were huge crowds and many people waited to get the limbs. I immediately decided to support and start my own centre to give those polio and accident victims freedom from crutches,” recalled Ms Dadha.

What started off in a small garage with the support of her mother, Mukti has today earned the gratitude of over 2.5 lakh people in the last 27 years.

Artificial limbs and callipers are custom-made and fitted for the needy free of cost at Mukti. “We don’t support only the underprivileged, even the rich have been benefited by Mukti. Anyone who approaches us gets artificial limbs free of cost,” said Ms Dadha.

Mukti works under the M.S Dadha Foundation and has been conducting various awareness programmes on road safety too as most people who lose limbs do so in accidents. “There are 25 technicians in Mukti who make artificial upper, lower limbs and callipers for amputees and polio victims. Of the 25, 12 technicians are physically and mentally challenged. We also conduct trainings for those who aspire to become technicians as it is more of craftsmanship,” said the founder of Mukti.

While artificial legs cost around Rs5,000, Mukti gives them free of cost. “Though we make over 60 legs and 80 callipers per month, there are always people in the waiting list,” she said, recalling children who had benefited and who are now engineers and doctors. “We also conduct free computer training at our centre,” added Ms Dadha.