PUNE, DECEMBER 5: The faced by a major financial crunch, the Pune Sub Area headquarters is actively meditating the possibility of submitting a proposal to the State Government to take over the running of the prestigious Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre located at Khadki by converting it into a government establishment.Speaking to media persons here on Friday, Sub Area Commander Brig Mathew Mammen explained that the paraplegic institution was the only one of its kind run by the Indian Army. Many of the inmates of the institute are victims of insurgencies.Even as the Army chiefly provided the necessary resources to run the centre, it has been observed that the institute lags behind its corpus target by at least Rs 93 lakh. The total corpus fund for the centre runs upto Rs 2.3 crore, he revealed.Should the State Government take up the centre as a government establishment, the major concerns relating to salaries and other establishment expenditure would become relatively easier while the Army could provide the necessary technical expertise as is the practice in the other states, he felt.The centre which currently has a capacity of 109 beds is now able to accommodate only 78 inmates. Another 30 odd beds remain vacant for want of funds, besides an active waiting list of 30 odd ex-servicemen while another 2000 ex-servicemen await admission.The Sub Area headquarters which had considered the possibility of sending back some of the fitter inmates to their respective regiments as part of its ambitious rehabilitation plan has already identified at least eight soldiers who will be sent back thus making space for the others. The rehabilitation of the soldiers posed a major problem before the authorities since they virtually have to be looked after throughout their lives and hence re-employing the fitter of the inmates at their respective units since they usually are no longer welcome in their homes.The PRC incurs an expenditure of Rs 30,000 per inmate every year. The authorities who have obtained a FERA clearance for the donations from abroad have already surfed the Internet with appeals for generous donations in the last three months. They seemed to have succeeded in their efforts especially since they have just received their first contribution of US $ 1000.
