Mumbai: Akshay Ridlan is a Mumbai-based data engineer. His innovative device helps in finding the location of children or people with special needs. The device which is a QR Locket helps families in reuniting with missing persons. Recently, a mentally challenged child in Mumbai was separated from his family, but thanks to the QR Locket, he was reunited with his family within hours. Let’s learn more about this incident. 

Vinayak’s story

The 12-year-old special needs child, Vinayak went missing on April 11. He boarded a bus in Worli and ended up in Colaba by 3 pm. The bus conductor learned about the kids’ situation, and being concerned about him, he contacted emergency services. By 10 pm, the case had reached Colaba Police Station. The officers scanned the QR Locket that Vinayak was wearing. The locket contained important information including Vinayak’s home address and phone number. The family was promptly informed, and soon after, they arrived at the police station to be reunited with their son. 

 

Project Chetna

Akshay Ridlan through his initiative called Project Chetna has distributed around 5,530 QR pendants across the country for free. The purpose of the mission is to ensure the safety of children with special needs. Akshay expresses that heartwarming incidents like Vinayak’s case inspire him to do better. 

Every year, thousands of mentally challenged people go missing in the country and those suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia struggle to remember their address. This QR locket serves as a valuable tool in these cases. Anyone interested can receive a QR locket by registering on the official website of Project Chetna, projectchetna.in.

What inspired Akshay Ridlan

In the year 2020, Akshay Ridlan’s dog went missing. Despite his efforts to find the dog, he was unsuccessful. This prompted him to develop a device that would ensure the safe return of lost pets. Initially, he created a collar with a QR code for pets which contained information about the pets’ owners. This project was launched in collaboration with the BMC. Later, he decided to develop a device for kids or people with special needs. The information contained in the lockets help in finding the location of the person, and also to retrieve information about one’s family.