GENERAL SECRETARY REPORT 1.

01ST APR 2018 TO 31ST MAR 2019

Dear readers in the continuation of previous years’ good work, I feel blessed and

happy to put forth before you the annual report of our organization for the year 2018-2019.

With the patronage our well-wishers our organization has successfully completed 12 years. I

am proud to announce that this year we took up fifteen projects and delivered them

successfully. Also I would not hesitate to confess all this would have not been possible

without your active and kind support.

Some of the high lights of this year were –

(1) Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Chairman Blind Association was honored by Rotary Club of

Pune Town with prestigious award of “Chiraag.”

(2) Ms. Bharti Khamke, a blind lady was aided with a Stall for business purpose.

(3) Dyaneshawari Prakashan at the hands of Shri Udhav Thakare, Shivsena Chief.

(4) Publication of collection of poems of late PM Shri Atal Bihari Bajpai by Mr. Suresh

Prabhu, Cabinate Minister.

Rest of the projects taken up throughout the year by our organization are as follows.

1. Blood Donation Camp -

Though this organization primarily works for the welfare of blinds but the blinds also

equally feel their duty towards the society and given opportunity they too would come

forward to help out. This was the basic reason that we took up this noble service of Blood

Donation and a camp was organized on 27th May 2018. Proudly I can announce that 27 of

my blind brothers donated blood in the camp. A T-Shirt depicting picture of Mr. Harish

Baijal with caption “I too am blood donor” was handed over to these blood donors. Also a

FM Radio was gifted to these blood donors by Mr. Dilip singh Beniwal.

2. Scholarship distribution ceremony and marriage ceremony - 2

For the past 12 years our organization extends a helping hand through scholarships to

all those needy blinds who are pursuing higher studies in various colleges and wish to

achieve big in the field of education. This year’s scholarship distribution program was held

on 01st July 2018 at Pune-Satara Road Marriage Hall. Total of 132 blind students were

distributed with the cheque of Rs. 1500/- each. At this very function through our

organization Mr. Sandeep Sonkamble and Ms. Anita valambe and Mr. Ganesh Patil and Ms.

Parvati Londe tied nuptial knots. Also to increase English vocabulary of blind students Silent

English grammar book was distributed at the hands of Mrs. Sudha Shah, Head “We Club.”

Also copies of same books were distributed at other blind schools of Maharashtra.

This function was attended by Mr. Ashok Godse, Trustee Shrimant Dagdu Seth

Halwai, Mr. Mahesh Suryawanshi, Mr. Krushnakumar Goyal, Chairman Kohinoor Group &

Mr. Datta Gaikwad, Mr. Prafulla Chate of Chate Classes, Mr. Sharad Shah, Mr. Kalidas

More and Mr. Sachin Karnik. All dignitaries present praised the blind students for their

achievement and enthusiasm and motivated them to continue with the hard work. They also

pledged continued support in future to these needy blinds through their trusts.

Special efforts were taken for successful management of this event by Chairman of

Blind Association Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Mr. Datta Patil, Mr. V.B. Gaikwad, Mrs. Vijaya

Dave and Mrs. Sapna Chandak.

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3. Distribution of educational material to wards of needy blind couples-

Organization strongly feels that wards of needy blind couples should not be left

behind in the race to achieve success. Hence to extend helping hand and to support in their

struggle to achieve education this year we organized one such program at the office of Blind

Welfare Organization at Shalimar Chauk on 15th July 2018. Fifty such poor needy blind

couples of Nashik District were selected and their wards were handed out educational

materials and water bottles. The program was attended by many dignitaries among them

were Mr. H. R. Ramkumar from Mahindra and Mahindra, Mr. Milind Jagirdar, and Prof.

Kangune. Mr. Ramkumar expressed satisfaction and praised Blind Association for its

endeavor. Mr. Kangune was overwhelmed with the good work of organization and

expressed his full support to organization. Ms. Kalpana Pande, Mr. Datta Patil and Mrs.

Sapna Chandak took up responsibility of making the program a grand success.

4. Devotional Musical Concert on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi –

On the auspicious day of Ashadhi Ekadashi on 23rd July 2018 a devotional musical

concert was organized at Parshuram Saykhedkar Natyamandir, Nashik. Theme of the concert

was “Pandhariche Sukh Nahi Tribhuvani.” Main aim of this musical concert was to bring

forward burning desire of blinds to show the world their talent and also to provide them

opportunities in the field of music. The auspicious program begun holy lamp lighting and

Puja of deity. In this very function a blind lady Mrs. Bharti Khamte was handed over the key

of business stall at the hands of Mrs. Kalpna Pande. Devotional songs were presented by Mr.

Kantilal Kshirsagar and Mrs. Asha Tuplondhe. Mr. Kantilal Kshirsagar presented melodious

devotional song “Majha Bhaav Tujhya Charni” and other such beautiful songs. Mr. Jitendra

Deore presented “Paule Chalti Pandharichi Vaat”. Mr. Gorakh Bhake was on Violin and

Mr. Sushil Kedar equally supported him at musical instruments.

Special efforts were taken by Mr. Arun Bharaskar and Ms. Vijaya Dave of the

organization to make the event successful.

5. Dyaneshwari Publication Ceremony –

It’s sad but very true that intellectual blinds have very less good quality reading

material in the Brail Language available even today. One such field that lacks the most in

terms of availability of reading material is the field of Spirituality. Hence to provide the

blinds with one such good reading material in Spiritual field we had thought to convert

epitome of Spiritual Book “Dyaneshwari” in Brail Language. For this Mrs. Neha

Nimbalkar of Rotary Club of Thane came forward with man and material. Without her

support both financially and physically it was not possible for Blind Welfare to achieve this

feat. We had thought to celebrate this function at large scale and the hands of some

renowned politicians of today’s Maharashtra and guess what, even almighty God helped us

to achieve this.

The grand celebration of “Dyaneshwari Publication Ceremony” was arranged at

Shivsena Bhavan, Mumbai at the hands of Mr. Udhav Thakare on 11th August 2018. Present

for the function were MP Mr. Sanjay Raut, Mr. Arvind Sawant, Cabinet Miniter and Mr.

Rajeev Khandekar Chief Editor ABP Majha. Program begun with a song “Bhagav Vaadal

Aale….” Mr. Udhav Thakare was all praise for the efforts undertaken by Mr. Arun

Bharaskar to achieve this glittering success. Mr. Rajeev Khandekar Chief Editor ABP Majha

equaled their Channel tagline “Ughada Dole…Bagha Neet…” with the efforts of our

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organization for literally opening spiritual eyes of blind peoples. Mr. Sanjay Rout pledged

continued support of their party to our organization in the future. Special efforts were taken

by Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Ms. Vijaya Dave and Ms. Sapna Chandak of the organization to

make the event successful.

6. Tree Plantation Ceremony –

In the view of current global warming and to instill importance of trees for

environment balance and its bearing on today’s human being, Blind Association had taken

up tree plantation drive at Malegaon, Taluka Trambkeshwar on 15th August 2018. I feel

proud to announce that we planted 1100 saplings. Further 50 students were allotted with 5

trees each to take care and look after them in the future. We also donated school uniforms to

them to encourage them in their social work. Mr. Trambak Kaule and Mr. Arun Bharaskar

generously donated for purchase of these uniforms. Plants were donated by Mahindra &

Mahindra. Villagers participated actively in this ceremony and were more than pleased to

plant these saplings in their fields and because of this Tree Plantation drive was a huge

success.

7. Felicitation Program of meritorious blind students at Thane and Nashik –

Organization has, for the past 11 years, been doing its part to encourage meritorious

blind students to achieve big in the life in spite of shortcomings in their lives. This initiative

of the Association was before limited to meritorious students of Nashik, Vidharbh and

Marathwada but our organization noticed that students of Pune and Mumbai too fared good

hence this year too on 15th August 2018 we organized a felicitation program at Wagli Estate

with the help of Rotary Club of Thane North End for meritorious blind students who ably

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proved to the society that they can also scale greater heights if provided with opportunity

and a little bit of help from the society. This year 100 such meritorious blind students from

all over the Maharashtra were honored with books, White Stick, Pen drive and cash for their

success and hard work. Present for the function were Mr. Shanbhor Murli of Rotary Club

and he was impressed with the level of success achieved by these blind students. A similar

function was organized on 2nd September 2018 by Jain Social Platinum Group at

Shrikrushna Lawns Nashik Pune Highway. In this program 135 students of Nashik,

Marathwada and Vidharbh were suitably honored. For this function we were honored by the

gracious attendance of Mr. Krushnakumar Patil, Chairman SSC Board Nashik, Mr. Tushar

Sinde of Mahindra & Mahindra, Mr. Kiran Khabia of Khabia Group, Mr. Dhiraj Picha and

many members of Jain Social Platinum Group. Mr. Krushnakumar Patil praised the

meritorious students. He also encouraged them to not just stop at this level but to strive

harder to achieve bigger success in life. Mr. Kiran Khabia also lauded their efforts and

promised continued support to them in the future also. Mr. Arun Bharaskar invited for

adoption of such meritorious students by the society and accordingly Mahindra & Mahindra

Group and Khabia Group showed positive response to such scheme. Meals were provided

for all those who attended the program. Program was successfully organized with special

efforts of Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Mr. Datta Patil, Mrs. Vijaya Dave and Ms. Sapna Chandak.

8. Competitions on the occasion of Teacher’s Day and Ganesh festival –

Organization firmly believes that blinds are equally talented and in order to showcase

their talent and to get them well with this organization we play our part. Organization knows

well that such feeling among our members can be aroused through Ganesh festival

celebration and one such function was organized on 22nd September 2018. A singing,

elocution and questionnaire competition for open group and kids group was organized.

Elocution competition was won by Krushna Nachgad and the runners up was Sunil More. In

singing competition winner was Umesh Gavande and Ishan Gadakh stood second. In Kids

group Yashraaj Shinde stood first and Shantanu Pawar was second. For questionnaire

competition competitors were divided in 4 groups namely A, B, C & D. Here Vikas

Vyavhare, Rahul Dhamne, JayKrushna Sanap, Tara Ugle & Asha Benke were the winner of

respective group of this competition.

Special efforts were taken by Ms. Kalpna Pande, Mr. Datta Patil, Ms. Pratibha Holkar

and Ms. Vijaya Marathe for success of the event.

9. International White-Stick Day celebration and Distribution of sweets on the

occasion of Diwali –

Every year October 15th is celebrated as international White-Stick day throughout the

world as declared by United Nations Organization. Various social organizations mark the

event for spreading awareness about plights of blinds and making the world more favorable

for them. Blind Welfare Organization celebrates this Day by taking up many social causes

for blinds. This year once such program was organized at Lions Club Hall Pandit Colony,

Sharanpur Road. Total of 135 needy blinds were distributed with White Stick. Mr. Jagdish

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Kabra of Kabra Emporium donated a-month’s ration to 10 needy blind family. A blind

student Mr. Gulab Jorwar was donated graciously for his further studies. Mr. Bhagwan

Pawar, a cancer patient was helped with Rs. 15,000/- for his treatment. A similar case Mr.

Chandrakant Mailgire was helped with Rs. 10000/-. Dignitaries like Someshwar Kabra, Mr.

Wankhede of Lions Club, Mr. Vilas Patil of Pawa Constructions graced the occasion. On

this occasion sweets were distributed by Mr. Saurabh Shah of Saurabh Enterprise. Special

efforts were taken by Ms. Kalpna Dave, Ms. Sapna Chandak and Mr. Vishal Patil for the

success of this function.

10. Distribution of sweets and cloths on the occasion of Dewali –

This organization has kept its previous record of social service of distributing sweets

and cloths to the needy blind families on the eve of Dewali so that they don’t feel left out

and can celebrate this festival with the same joy. This social activity was carried out at

organization’s office on 5th November 2018. One Kg box of sweet and cloths were

distributed to 110 blinds and saris were handed over to blind women. This social function

was graced dignitaries such as Anil Nahar of Jain Social Group, Mr. Vijay Hiran,, Mr. Satish

Bagrecha, Mr. Prashant Bagmaar, Mr. Sanjeev Paithankar of Sula Vines, renowned

entrepreneur Ms. Asha Venu Gopal. Function was inaugurated by lighting of lamp and old

melodius Dewali songs were sung by singers.

This time around there was a surprise gift of Raymond cloth material to every blind

present by Mr. Arjun Mudda. All dignitaries present bestowed best wishes and pledged

continues support in the future also. Blind Welfare Association chairman Mr. Arun

Bharaskar, Ms. Kalpna Chandak and Ms. Vijaya Dave actively participated to make the

function successful.

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11. State level Cricket Competition at Thane –

Every human being has some inherent traits in him/her be

sports/music/acting/dance/singing etc and if right platform and opportunity provided he can

excel in that field. As an organization we are in know of this and we have been trying in this

direction since inception of organization. This year also to provide platform to blinds to

showcase their sporting abilities and to encourage them to participate in sports our

organization with the active support of Ms. Neha Nimbalkar, Rotary Club Thane organized

Interstate Cricket tournament, which was held at Vartak Nagar Sports Stadium Thane on 17th

& 18th November 2018. Competition was inaugurated at 9 am by Mr. Sanjeev Jaiswal, CEO

Thane. A grand inauguration ceremony was held and all the sportsman displayed marchpast

with band party and grand salute was given to chief guest.

Total 8 teams - Rest of Maharashtra, Marathwada, Pune, Mumbai, Nashik, Solapur,

Chandrapur and Nagpur - participated in this tournament. Teams wwere divided into 2

groups and was played on knockout basis. Tournament Final was played between Rest of

Maharashtra and Nagpur. Nagpur team were the winners of the tournament.

Prize distribution ceremony was held in the presence of Mr. Pratap Sarnaik, MLA,

Mr. Ashish Ganguly, Divisional Commissioner and others. Winners were awarded a cash

prize of Rs. 11000/- and a glittering Trophy. Team second placed was also awarded a cash

prize of Rs. 15000/- and a glittering Trophy. A big support for organization of tournament

was provided by LIC, Rotary Club Thane and Ms. Parisha Sarnaik of Whegus Charitable

Trust. Ms. Neha Nimbalkar promised that next year Rotary Club would hold such a

tournament at National Level. Special efforts for the success of the tournament were taken

by Association Chairman Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Ms. Sapna Chandak, Ms. Vijaya Dave and

Mr. Datta Patil.

12. Trip to Pandharpur –

Today’s busy and hectic life plays a havoc in everybody’s life. We tend to get slowed

down with boredom and work schedule. Working person or businessman nobody is spared

from this. This is true equally for all the people, be it blind or sighted. Just to come out of

everyday’s boredom and to reinvigorate, our organization has for the past 9 years been

organizing pleasure trips and trip to Pandharpur to seek blessings of Lord Pandurang. This

year also a trip was organized by Mr. Gangadhar Jadhav to holy city Pandharpur on 24th

December 2018. Trip began from Kailash Mat to Tuljapur and then visited Pandharpur. One

thing I would like to mention proudly here that although blind yet we stayed in queue for

more than 3 hours for darshan of diety. From there we visited Narsobachi Wadi, Mahalaxmi

of Kolhapur and Fort of Panhalgad and Raigad. We enjoyed boat ride there. Then we visited

Tarkarli beech and everybody was so happy to be there. Complete financial assistance for

the trip was provided by Mr. G.K. Jadhav, Mr. Ganesh Gite and Mr. Narendra Firodiya

again saved organization from monitory burden. Special efforts for the success of the trip

were taken by Mrs. Vijaya Dave and Mr. Datta Patil.

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13. Publishing of Poem Collection “Atal Vishwas” –

We are very proud to bring this to our reader’s notice that our Association Chairman

Mr. Arun Bharaskar has over the years taken a time out from his busy schedule to collect

poems of our Ex-Prime minister Mr. Atal Bhihari Bajpai. He wanted to provide access of

this collection to blind brothers and with his active efforts this compilation of poems was

published in Brail Language. Complete expenditure was incurred by him.

Publishing ceremony was held on 25th December 2018 on the day of Birth

Anniversary of Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpai at Spastic Society, Bandra, and Mumbai. Cabinet

Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu and Mr. Ashish Shelar were the chief guest of the function.

Blind students of Mumbai School were also present for inauguration function.

Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Ms. Kalpna Pande, Treasurer Ms. Vijaya Marathe and Mr. Datta

Patil took special efforts to make this ceremony successful.

14. National level Cricket Tournament at Mumbai (Siyaram Cup) –

Cricket is the favorite and most played sports of our country. We have understood

madness and love for this game of our people and for the same reason have been organizing

cricket tournament for the past 10 years. Few of our blind cricketers have represented

National Team. This year’s National level Cricket Tournament was held at Islam Gymkhana

and Sachivalay Mumbai from 14th to 16th January 2019. Tournament was sponsored by

Kotak Mahindra and Siyaram Group. Inauguration was held at Islam Gymkhana and former

cricketer Sameer Dhighe inaugurated by symbolic batting. Dignitaries present for the

inauguration were many bigwigs such Police Commissioner Mr. Pravin Padval, Cricketer

Sameer Dhighe, entrepreneur and chairman Siyaram Silk Mr. Ramesh Potdar, Mr. Sagar

Bhayani of Arham Yuva Seva Group, Film actor Mr. Rakesh Bapat, District Governor of

Rotary Club Mr. Sashi Sharma, Ms. Sudha Kamat, Mr. Haneef Sahikh of Islam Gymkhana.

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First match was played between Punjab and Rest of Maharashtra and Final was played

at Brabourne Stadium. Teams participating were Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,

Rajasthan, Punjab, Goa, Delhi and Jammu-Kashmir. Finals was played between rest of

Maharashtra and Gujrat. Gujrat team for the 10th consecutive year won the tournament.

MLA Mr. Laad, Mr. Ravi Mandrekar , keshav Warkhedkar, primal Udani from Brabourne

Stadium Chairman, Arhum Yuva Seva grups Ekta Mam, were present for prize distribution

ceremony. Winners were presented with cash prize of Rs. 21,000/- and a trophy and runners-

up team with Rs. 15,000/- and a trophy. Siyaram Group pledged continued support in the

future also. Seven blind players who participated in Blind World Cup were each awarded Rs.

10000/- . Mr. Potdar also pledged continued support for such events. Chairman Rotary

Club Mr. Arjun Mudda and Mr. Hanif Shaikh took special efforts to make the tournament

successful. Also noted contributors were Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Mr. Datta Patil, Ms. Sapna

Chandak, Ms. Vijaya Dave, Mr. Shyam Makhariya and Mr. Uday Sawant of Bombay Beats.

15. Haldi-Kumkum for Ladies –

Our organization understands that like any other able woman blind woman also has

many social and family problems that she faces in day-to-day life. In order to know those

problems, to offer supporting hand to such woman and to give the solution to it Mrs.

Pratibha Holkar from our organization has come forward with innovative idea of arranging

Haldi-Kumkum for ladies. The function was held on 9th February 2019. In this gathering

women enjoyed the function with songs, storytelling, and indoor sports. Ms. Sapna Chandak

and Mudra Maratha Mahila Mandal were the active members who made the function

possible with their innovative ideas. Ms. Kalpna Pande and Ms. Vijya Dabe of Blind

Welfare Association took on the responsibility of making Haldi-Kumkum function a grand

success.

16. Gomantak Cricket Cup – 10

We took a leaf out of our Prime Minister’s election campaign “Modi hai to Mumkeen

hai” and made it “Blind Welfare Association hai to Mumkeen hai”. This year for the first

time a “Gomantak Champions Trophy” was held by our organization in Goa on 17th March

2019 at Youth Cricket Ground Panji. IPL & Kings Eleven Player Swapnil Singh, Geno

Pharma Company Director, Mr. Yatin Naik, Mr. Pradeep Mishra, Ms. Annapurna of

Corporate Zonal Branch were the dignitaries present for the Championship. This one day

competition final was played between Gujrat and Rest of Maharashtra. Winners were

awarded with Rs. 30000/- and a trophy and runner’s-up were awarded with Rs. 25000/- and

a trophy. Goa being a seashore and a picnic spot every player enjoyed cricket and scenic

beauty of Goa. All the blind cricketers praised President of Blind Association Mr. Arun

Bharaskar for his efforts and never-say-die attitude. In turn Mr. Bharaskar louded efforts of

all blind sportsman. Special efforts were taken for the success of this organization by

President Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Mr. Datta Patil, Ms. Sapna Chandak, Ms. Vijaya Dave, Ms.

Priti Chavhan of Sports Way, Mr. Praskash Palande and Mr. Sudheen Kamat.

All in all it was a successful year for our organization. We were able to contribute our

share in bringing smile and helping out poor and needy blinds of the society. Our

Association has carried out such noble work throughout the year with deep sense of

responsibility towards society and in particular to needy blinds. Many obstacles were faced

and overcome by the association and we always came out with flying colors. This would not

have been possible without the helping hands of Mr. Mahindra Kotak, Mr. Krushnakumar

Goyal, Kohinoor Group, Mr. Ramesh Potdar of Siyaram Group, Mr. Keshav Varkhedkar,

Mr. Narendra Firodiya, Jagmohan Mehata, Mr. Ulhas Debadwar and Mr. Sanjay N.

Mankoskar. Also TV and broadcasting media took the note of our organization and helped in

its own way. Over the years our organization has grown into a big tree catering for the

needy and poor blinds of the society who otherwise were left out to fend for themselves in

this waste ocean of society. Once again thanks to all and one who have in some or the other

way helped Blind Association in its endeavor.

Thank you.

General Secretary

Mr. Dattatraya Shankar Patil

(English Translation by Mr. Sanjay N. Mankoskar, Veteran)