First alumni meet at Institute for Blind

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 13

For the first time, the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, held its alumni meet at NITTR, Sector 26, on Saturday.

More than 150 pass-outs from the institute participated in the event, which was organised by five former students — Gajanand Mittal, Sanjeev Gandhi, Kuldeep Thakur, Sonam Shashni and Gurmeet Singh Khalsa.

Key organiser Gajanand Mittal, who brought the alumni together through a WhatsApp group, said: “It has been three years since I passed out from here and never visited again. There were many like me and they were more enthusiastic to aid the event financially, since 99 per cent students of the institute have government jobs.”

Sharing that they were able to generate around Rs 70,000, Gajanand said: “We have more than 150 members on our WhatsApp group. We approached the school and Principal JS Jayara was supportive. In fact, he even arranged two busses for students to reach here.”

Institute Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Rajendranath announced to reimburse double the sum spent on organising the event. His offer was only partly accepted. Rajendranath said: “I joined the institute in 80s and there weren’t many students then. It is an honour to have been associated with it.”