‘Disabled being deprived of their rights’

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 2

Though several announcements had been made by the respective governments to make the city disabled-friendly, nothing concrete has happened on the ground to date.

A special campaign “#AskCM” will be launched on the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons on twitter, where people with different disabilities can interact with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh regarding solutions to the problems being faced by them.

Amarjit Singh Anand, an expert member of the state advisery board for disabled persons, said, “According to the Right for People with Disability Act (2016), the state government had to ensure that disabled persons had accessibility to everything until March 2020, but nothing happened.”

“They don’t reply to e-mails. We are going to expose on twitter how disabled persons are being deprived of their rights.”

“There are no sports, cultural or transport policies for us. There is no social security and Rs750 pension given to us per month is nothing,” Anand said.

He said, “Disabled persons cannot access railway stations and going from one platform to another is not possible.” Vivek Joshi, who suffers from cerebral palsy and runs an NGO “Madhav Sewa Society” said basic facilities were lacking in the city.

Joshi said, “Vo hamare nazariye se nahi dekhte. Hamare lie toh ek seedhi bhi dikat deti hai.”

He said ramps had been constructed at certain points, but were not properly maintained. There’s a ramp at the administrative complex, but it’s without railings, he said.

He said the Madhav Sewa Society had got a survey done to check what facilities were there for disabled persons.

Joshi said the footpath in Jalandhar cannot be accessed by those who use a wheelchair and Jalandhar railway station doesn’t has an elevator.

At the Municipal Corporation building, ramps were not in the condition to be used and most of the banks were out of bounds of disabled persons, he said.

Manish Aggarwal, secretary, Chaanan Association, said, said his son has been suffering from intellectual disability. “There is no clinical psychologist at the government hospital in the city. After his recommendation, intellectual disability certificate is issued. As a result, one has to visit either Amritsar or Chandigarh. The process is so hectic that several parents leave it mid way and they don’t even get the certificates,” he said.