It was a different Independence Day for a nine-year-old-girl from Canning.

“I am able to walk again. I will be able to play,” she said after she took a few steps with a prosthetic implant on Sunday after a gap of six months.

The girl from South 24-Parganas district had lost her right leg in an accident.

The Rotary Club of Calcutta handed over new limbs to 30 people on Sunday. As part of Project Akriti that was launched on Independence Day, the club aims to provide artificial limbs free of cost to 1,000 individuals by June next year.

Besides the girl, a third-year college student in the city whose left hand had to be amputated when he was in Class IV because of an accident that had become “life threatening” also received a new limb.

When a limb is taken away individuals become dependent on family members or people around them, said Sujata Pyne, the president of Rotary Club of Calcutta. “If we provide artificial limbs to 1,000 people we are not just supporting them but also their family members who have to help them with daily chores.”

The girl recalled the accident that occurred while she was standing on the side of a road. A bicycle knocked her up and ran over her leg.

“She was taken to a hospital but she was left unattended for some days because they were awaiting a Covid report. By the time the report arrived gangrene had developed and they had to amputate the leg,” said a family member.

“It was the story of this girl that prompted me to take such a drive,” Pyne said.

There are some like Soham Bhattacharya, the third-year college student who learnt to live with it.“Having lost my left hand when I was in Class IV, I had adapted to the constant stares,” he said.

“An artificial limb ...if it provides 40 per cent support, it makes life easier.”

The project will select beneficiaries on the basis of their economic condition. “One needs money to get a prosthetic implant. Many cannot afford it and many are not aware about it,” said Krishna Sen, a professor of English and member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta. To apply for prosthetic implants one could contact Anjan Behera at 8777858153 and 9831585865.

Pyne said arrangements were made for life long maintenance of the prosthetic implants.