All the donors -- from a five-year-old child to septuagenarians -- have given written commitments to the Lokdrishti Charitable Trust to allow it to remove their cornea on their deaths. Interestingly, most of them reside in Varachha, where the Loksamarpan Raktadan Kendra received an overwhelming response to its blood-collection drive recently.

The achievement, which was spread over the last 13 months, is all the more praiseworthy when one considers the negative superstitions still attached to the removal of a part of a body after death. The LCT got around that hurdle by taking its awareness programmes to 30 city schools, from where it eventually won a large number of pledges from children.

``Minors' pledges are backed by their parents''', said Dr Praful Shiroya, president of the trust.

Incidentally, 45 per cent of the pledges came from women. Among them is Kaminiben Darji, a Varachha resident and employee of Bojalram Urban Credit Society, who donated her son's eyes after he committed suicide on failing the Higher Secondary examinations last year.

``With my son Dignesh's death, I realised that the light had gone from our lives. So why not give his eyes to someone who cannot see the light at all?'', she told Express Newsline.

The LCT, which was established on April 1, 1998, has been so far instrumental in 58 eye transplantations; 38 people are in the queue. ``Preference is given to children and residents of the city'', said Shiroya, adding that the transplantations did not cost the patient anything.

The trust also plans to build an eye hospital at a cost of Rs 12 crores. ``Ten people have already donated money for the cause'', Shiroya said, adding that the facility was urgently needed. Donated eyes have to be transplanted within 72 hours; at present only the Rotary Club-run Navsari Eye Hospital can preserve the cornea for that length of time.