RailEnquiry

Jamshedpur : Peeved with the state government's alleged "insensitivity", an autonomous organisation under the Union ministry of culture has decided to table the needs of nearly 15 lakh disabled people of Jharkhand directly before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September. Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti began its two-day convention for the disabled in Jharkhand this afternoon at Nirmal Bhawan in Kadma, with 110 disabled social workers from 20 districts taking part. The resolutions of this meet will be placed before the prime minister, who also happens to be the chairman of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, and a copy sent to chief minister Arjun Munda, they said. Jharkhand Viklang Manch (JVM) secretary Arun Kumar said they would urge the Centre to put pressure on the state government to take up "proactive measures for the disabled who account for five per cent of the Jharkhand's population". "The disabled have reasons for their disillusionment. The state disability policy is stuck in the draft stage for the last two years. It is not tabled in cabinet though the chief minister had promised to formulate a policy as soon as possible during the national disabled day function at Ranchi on December 3, 2011," he said. He added that if the policy was not enforced by December 3, 2012, "one year after Mundaji's promise", the disabled would sit on a massive dharna in the capital. Social workers were unanimous about passing resolutions that demanded establishing a residential training centre for the disabled in each of the 24 districts, implementing three per cent of government jobs for the disabled and constituting a disability commission ' similar to the one for women ' headed by a qualified disabled person. "Our other demands are earmarking three per cent of the state budget for the disabled, proper display of signage for the special compartment at railway platforms and other essentials," said Vimal Kumar, a representative of the Jharkhand Viklang Manch. "We also want the masses, especially the disabled, to know their rights enshrined in the Persons with Disability Act," he added.