Wheelchairs enter ad ring, get noticed

After a fall from a building two years ago, Ramesh Chalvadi was paralysed waist down. No one was willing to employ him.

After a fall from a building two years ago, Ramesh Chalvadi was paralysed waist down. No one was willing to employ him. Now, thanks to an idea an enterprising young man borrowed from his grandfather, Chalvadi is on the move, earning money. All he has got to do is go around in his wheelchair. Since Navratri, Chalvadi has been moving in the city, with a billboard strapped to the wheelchair. The space on the billboard has been sold to a company for advertisement. It8217;s the brainchild of Shridhar Bedekar of Shridhar Arts, but he says he borrowed it.

8220;My grandfather tried out this concept on a cart in 1930. It worked. I thought, why not do something similar for the physically challenged. A lot of trucks carry billboards but they rarely enter the city. Autorickshaws carry advertisements, but they are zipping around at high speed,8221; says Bedekar.

The idea has taken off. He has roped in half-a-dozen physically challenged men like Chalvadi. One of them used to beg outside a temple. Three more persons are joining next week. For 19-year-old Chalvadi, who had been unemployed since he fell from the third floor of a building in 2006 while working as a construction worker, the billboard means an income of Rs 2,500 a month. 8220;We are a family of five, including parents and two sisters. I am the only son. Father is unemployed and the family depends on mother and me for bread and butter,8221; he says.

Bedekar8217;s idea has helped 22-year-old Bhivaji Murlidhar Gaikwad, who has been physically challenged since birth. 8220;The money I earned as a paper vendor was meagre. Today, the monthly income of Rs 2,500 makes me feel I am contributing significantly to my family income,8221; says Gaikwad, who got married six months back.

Initially, the response to Bedekar8217;s idea was not very encouraging. But now banks, coaching classes and even builders are keen on advertising in this manner. 8220;I am doing it with the sole motive of generating employment for the physically challenged. We plan to approach the state government for government advertisements too,8221; he says. Considering the traffic chaos, going around the city with the billboards from 9 am to 5 pm everyday is tedious.

Bedekar, not one to be caught without a new idea, comes up with a solution. He plans to equip the wheelchairs with motors.