{"id":18772,"date":"2019-07-12T09:04:19","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T03:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=18772"},"modified":"2019-07-12T09:04:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T03:34:19","slug":"disabled-but-not-defeated-an-unlikely-victim-of-unrest-paralysed-pulwama-man-rebuilds-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=18772","title":{"rendered":"DISABLED BUT NOT DEFEATED | AN UNLIKELY VICTIM OF UNREST, PARALYSED PULWAMA MAN REBUILDS HIS LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In August 2016, during unrest the sound of a blast threw Arshad Ahmad Wani off balance from the roof of his house on to boulders in the backyard and badly injured his spine, disabling him waist down. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>After spending two months in hospitals, Wani, 34, was wheelchair bound and distraught.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cI thought I would never be back on my feet and worried how I could be able to feed my family,\u201d Wani, a resident of Litter village outside Pulwama town said. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>He suffered bouts of depression for first few months but soon overcame and decided not to give up. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cI resolved to fight back and not to let my wheelchair come in the way of my life.\u201d <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Wani, a carpenter soon began thinking of setting up a woodwork unit.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Beset with financial troubles, one day in 2018, Wani dropped in on the Deputy Commissioner\u2019s office in Pulwama to avail a loan. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cThe Deputy Commissioner not only liked my idea but also guided me,\u201d Wani said, adding that he was sent to the District Industries and Commerece Department (DIC) where a loan of Rs 712,000 was granted to him.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>In April, 2019 he erected a tin shed alongside his modest house and set up a bandsaw unit. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cI already knew the job having worked at such units. I was good at making cabinets, doors and windows,\u201d Wani said. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Barely two months down the line he has four fulltime employees working at his unit, earning Rs 10-12 thousand per month and paying his employees between Rs 18000 and 7500 per month.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cApart from making different designs of doors and windows, we also do some latticework.\u201d <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Wani, however, says he is unable to make his own wooden items because he cannot afford to buy wood so he could make some more profit.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cI am not able to purchase the wood from market. I only work on the wood customers bring.\u201d <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Wani is now looking to the government for providing subsidized timber to him hoping to do better.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cHe did not let his disability cripple his or his family\u2019s life. It is his dogged determination that brought him back on his feet economically,\u201d said his neighbour Shabir Ahmad in appreciation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Story Was Published In Kashmir Ink (A Greater Kashmir Publication)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In August 2016, during unrest the sound of a blast threw Arshad Ahmad Wani off balance from the roof of his house on to boulders in the backyard and badly injured his spine, disabling him waist down. After spending two months in hospitals, Wani, 34, was wheelchair bound and distraught. \u201cI thought I would never [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}