Running For Cleanliness: People With Disability To Run A Marathon This November To Spread The Swachhta Message

New Delhi: ‘After 10 years of my injury during Kargil war, I started running half marathon using an artificial leg to convey the message to the society that disability is a state of mind. As a 100% disabled and an amputee, this was the beginning of my journey of turning every adversity into an opportunity,’ says Kargil War veteran Major D P Singh, who is also a Limca Book of Records holder for being India’s first blade runner with more than 25 marathons to his credit. Back in 2011, Major Singh formed a group, The Challenging Ones (TCO) in a bid to reach out and encourage more and more Divyangs (people with disabilities). Today, TCO has a membership of 1400 amputees and more than 500 amputees have participated in various marathons across India. Moreover the group now has also lent its support to India’s biggest cleanliness drive – the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which has recently completed its three years. In support of the Swachh cause, the group has been organising SwachhAbility marathons with disabled people from past two years with a simple message – ‘If they can, so can you.’

This year, from November 5 to 12, a special SwachhAbility marathon will be held in five different cities of India – Goa, Belagavi, Hubballi, Mangaluru and Bengaluru.

This unique run will see people with disability along with all the other participants clean a designated area after the event as a part of the Swachh Drive. The event has got the thumbs up from the Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri. Praising the efforts of the champions, the minister tweeted, “#SwachhBharat is resonating widely. I support @swachhability run organised by his NGO, The Challenging Ones.”

Last year the group was successful in organising the run in seven cities and saw a participation of more than 10,000 people with disabilities. The group will be hoping to better that this year with the SwachhAbility Marathon.