NOIDA: Even as the district administration is organising various seminars and programmes for the disabled on the occasion of World Disability day, a 41-year-old tea-stall owner suffering from 65 per cent disability is running pillar to post to get a disabled person's railcard for availing concession in railway tickets.
Shaikh Sadarul, who contracted polio when he was just 10-years old and is suffering from post-polio residual paralysis (PPRT), had to face many problems to get a concession certificate from the health department earlier.
Staying at Kakrala village in Sector 80, Sadarul says that he was initially not entertained by the health department officials when he would visit the office.
However, the certificate was made without much delay after Sardul raised the issue with the state health minister Sidharth Nath Singh during his visit to the community health centre in Bhangel in May this year.
The struggle however did not stop as he was not issued a ticket with concession when he tried to avail the facility for rail travel and was asked by a railway official at the New Delhi station to get a smartcard from the office of the divisional railway manager, New Delhi.
"When I reached the office, I showed my concession certificate to the concerned official who pointed out that my age was missing in the document. They asked me to get the addition made in my certificate for which I again had to visit the Sector 39 office of Gautam Budh Nagar health department. However, after getting the addition, I was asked by the DRM officials to wait for four months," Sadarul said.
Over five months after his application was submitted to the office of the divisional railway manager in New Delhi on June 9, multiple visits to the office have proved futile.
No one picks up the phone number given to him too.
"I have visited the office two-three times. However, during my latest visit to the office last week, officials told me that my smartcard has been sent to the CMO Office in Sector 39. When I visited the CMO office, I was told that my smartcard has not been sent here," he said.
When contacted, CMO Anurag Bhargava told TOI that since, the process of issuing smart card for claiming concession on railway tickets has been recently started, the rules are not clear.
"We have got some verification forms but no smartcard has come to our office," he said.
Nitin Chowdhary, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway expressed surprise that Sadarul was asked to wait for so long for his smartcard.
"Issuance of smart card should not take four months. If this has happened, we will speak to the DRM officials and resolve the issue," he told TOI.
Shaikh Sadarul, who contracted polio when he was just 10-years old and is suffering from post-polio residual paralysis (PPRT), had to face many problems to get a concession certificate from the health department earlier.
Staying at Kakrala village in Sector 80, Sadarul says that he was initially not entertained by the health department officials when he would visit the office.
However, the certificate was made without much delay after Sardul raised the issue with the state health minister Sidharth Nath Singh during his visit to the community health centre in Bhangel in May this year.
The struggle however did not stop as he was not issued a ticket with concession when he tried to avail the facility for rail travel and was asked by a railway official at the New Delhi station to get a smartcard from the office of the divisional railway manager, New Delhi.
"When I reached the office, I showed my concession certificate to the concerned official who pointed out that my age was missing in the document. They asked me to get the addition made in my certificate for which I again had to visit the Sector 39 office of Gautam Budh Nagar health department. However, after getting the addition, I was asked by the DRM officials to wait for four months," Sadarul said.
Over five months after his application was submitted to the office of the divisional railway manager in New Delhi on June 9, multiple visits to the office have proved futile.
No one picks up the phone number given to him too.
"I have visited the office two-three times. However, during my latest visit to the office last week, officials told me that my smartcard has been sent to the CMO Office in Sector 39. When I visited the CMO office, I was told that my smartcard has not been sent here," he said.
When contacted, CMO Anurag Bhargava told TOI that since, the process of issuing smart card for claiming concession on railway tickets has been recently started, the rules are not clear.
"We have got some verification forms but no smartcard has come to our office," he said.
Nitin Chowdhary, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway expressed surprise that Sadarul was asked to wait for so long for his smartcard.
"Issuance of smart card should not take four months. If this has happened, we will speak to the DRM officials and resolve the issue," he told TOI.
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