[1]Though he was disabled in his childhood, Mujeeb Khan, a 35-year-old from Jaipur, has a special talent. He modifies four-wheelers in order to make them disabled friendly.
“My mechanised work has helped over 450 disabled people across India to drive the vehicle on their own,” he proudly explains. “I feel so blessed when I see a disable person driving vehicle after I have made changes in it,” says Mr Khan.
He runs his own automobile shop in Jaipur and earns good money from his work of modifying cars. “It is my own invention, I got a patent of my invention and have been helping the disabled throughout the country,” he added. “The device invented by me, has proved to be a success and it is a boon for disabled people,” he said.
“It is easy to fit it on to any four-wheeler without making any basic changes in the vehicle. I do not disturb the original make of the car but it works successfully,” he says.
He has named his creation the “Fully Hand Operated Retrofitted System”. The device, which can be operated using one’s hands, has a clutch, brake as well as an accelerator. The device enables paraplegic people to drive a car.
According to Mr Khan, he has successfully applied it to all kind of vehicles ranging from Mercedes to Maruti 800.
“After fitting my invention in the car, anyone who has leg disability can drive the vehicle,” he said. Mr Khan who is victim of polio, has been walking with crutches since he was a child. He has always had a love for speed and driving. He can be seen on Jaipur’s road driving around in his Skoda.
Mr Khan says he could not get much education as a child, as he was forced to finish his studies when he passed 10th standard. “In my childhood, it was my younger brother who used to carry me on his back when we went to school,” he said.
“We lived in a village under Jaipur district and there was a stream on way to school. My brother used to carry me on his back to get me across the stream,” Mr Khan said.
That was the time when I resolved to do some thing good in my life, said the 35-year-old. “My father was a fourth-class employee and I was older in the three brothers and four sisters. My father was constantly worried about me,” Mr Khan said.
I subsequently developed the skill to make disabled-friendly vehicles and now my father is moved by my success, he says.
His invention has benefited several disabled people, including Jaipur’s Mahendra Joshi, 42, who has been using the Maruti car after modifications by Mr Khan six years ago.
Mr Joshi who works at the passport office in Jaipur, explained: “I am also a polio victim since my childhood, but Mr Khan’s invention has instilled a confidence in me and I can move any where with my car,” he said.
“I can say it brought a quality change in my life,” Mr Joshi said.
“My tool is not costly, though it differs with vehicle-to-vehicle, but if a person is disabled from both his legs, it will cost `25,000 and it will not disturb original make of the vehicle,” Mr Khan says.
If the person has motor functions in one of his leg, then the device will cost him only `20,000, he explained.
Mr Khan says that the device is just an additional facility which can be made without any changes change to the original make of a car.
“I never thought it would prove a boon for others and that I would adopt it as my business, instead I had developed it for myself,” he says.
I have been doing it since 1991 and handicapped people from other part of the India contact me in this regard, Mr Khan said.
“It is my dream that every disabled person in India is able to drive a car,” he said. “Being disabled myself, I can understand the pain and helpless of a disabled person,” Mr Khan said.
One of the beneficiaries of Mr Khan’s technique, Mr Joshi, said that earlier life was extremely difficult and he forced to depend on others to move about.
Now, thanks to this ingenious invention by Mujeeb Khan, he is, like all the other disabled people who have had the device installed in their cars, capable of moving around without being dependant on others.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/n20jpg-569