The Department of Empowerment of SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities and the Specially Abled (ESOMSA) on Tuesday convened a review meeting to deliberate on issues concerning Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), with a special focus on the demands raised by the Blind Persons Association. The meeting reviewed the status of backlog vacancies, welfare schemes and policy-related concerns affecting Divyangjans.
Addressing the meeting, Director ESOMSA Sumit Khimta said that so far only the Animal Husbandry Department and the Printing and Stationery Department have issued advertisements to fill backlog posts reserved for Persons with Disabilities. He urged all remaining departments to expedite the process of filling reserved vacancies to ensure timely relief to eligible candidates.
Sharing progress made in the education sector, Khimta said that the School Education Department has declared the final results for JBT posts reserved for PwDs. A total of 119 JBT posts have been filled, including 50 posts for the visually impaired, 49 for orthopedically handicapped candidates, 11 for the hearing impaired, eight for persons with multiple disabilities and one for a person with intellectual disability. He further informed that an advertisement has also been issued for 94 TGT posts, of which 26 are reserved for visually impaired candidates, 22 for the hearing impaired, 13 for those with intellectual disability or on the autism spectrum, and 10 for persons with multiple disabilities.
The meeting also discussed the issue of mandatory HIM bus cards for free travel in HRTC buses. Sumit Khimta stated that directions have been issued to organize special camps to facilitate Persons with Disabilities in obtaining the HIM bus card. However, representatives of the Blind Persons Association demanded that the HIM bus card should not be made mandatory for PwDs to avail free travel and that they should be exempted from this requirement. It was informed that the matter has been challenged in the High Court.
Other key issues taken up during the meeting included enhancement of the Disability Relief Allowance under the Social Security Pension for Divyangjans, appointment of an independent State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, implementation of the Sahara Pension Yojana, provision of houses under the Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojana to visually impaired persons without conditions, and raising the retirement age of Divyangjan employees from 58 to 60 years.
The Blind Persons Association also highlighted that benefits under the Sahara Pension Yojana have not been released to beneficiaries for the past six months. The issue was referred to the Health and Family Welfare Department for necessary action.
Shobhu Ram, President of the Blind Persons Association, thanked the department for convening the review meeting and for initiating steps to fill posts reserved for Persons with Disabilities. He urged the government to further expedite the process so that long-pending backlog vacancies are filled at the earliest.
Controller (Printing and Stationery) Prabha Rajiv, senior officers from various departments, and members of Blind Persons and specially abled associations were present in the meeting.
