Mangaluru: The administrator of Saanidhya School, Vasanth Kumar Shetty along with the differently-abled children of Saanidhya Special School for Mentally Challenged, felicitated U T Khader, the newly appointed State Minister for Urban Development and Housing in the Kumaraswamy led Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition government.

During the occasion, Vasanth Kumar urged the state minister to provide midday-meals through the Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple to all the differently-abled schools in Dakshina Kannada, a programme that was halted by the government last November.

U T Khadar assured Vasanth Kumar Shetty of providing the midday-meals to the schools for differently-abled children in the district after holding a meeting with the chief minister in this regard.

Vasanth Kumar, expressing concern for differently-abled children, asked, “Why were the meals for differently-abled schools stopped? What have the children done to the government? Politics should not be done with differently-abled children. Caste or religious tags should not be given to schools who serve these children.”

He also said that 34 differently-abled children in Saanidhya are aged above 25 and the government is not providing any benefits for those children. The government should not fix an age limit for providing benefits, especially for the differently-abled, he expressed.