TUMKUR: Thanks to one family’s devoted work in Tumkur, around 700 people have received the gift of sight.The members of Nama Srirangashetty (NS) family have achieved this by effecting 350 pair of eye donations in the past two decades.The torch bearer has been N N Sridhar, a former Lion’s Club member and owner of a jewellery shop in Tumkur.Besides, the family has also ensured that around 10,000 people have pledged their eyes for donation.Soon, recognising their feats, the Lions International Eye Bank, Bangalore, awarded a testimonial of appreciation in promoting eye donation.And inspired by their service, about 200 women from Mythri Sangha led by Lokeshwari Prabhu, also voluntarily pledged their eyes recently.The family’s work also drew the attention of former minister Sagaranahalli Revanna’s younger brother Mahadevaiah and scientist C P Sadashivaiah, winner of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) award,who offered to donate their eyes.It all started when Sridhar organised eye camps for the poor through Lion’s Club and helped 12,000 people get their eyes operated for defects.Later, he set up the N S Eye Collection Centre under N S Charitable Trust with the help of his family members.The centre has collected the eyes of a boy as young as 12 years and a man as old as 103 years after their death with the help of a network of 22 ophthalmologists including Dinesh, Vishwanath, G S Swamy and others, to who he expressed his gratitude.And when he is away, his wife Lakshmi and son Nagadeesh co-ordinate eye collection, says Sridhar.The 60-odd members of NS family too have pledged their eyes and Sridhar’s 86-year-old father Narayana Shetty’s eyes were collected when he died a couple of years ago.
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