Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department Ashish Singhmar said that the department was committed to safeguard the rights and interests of PwD and was ensuring their overall welfare through timely and effective measures. All the departments across the state have been directed to take prompt action for filling the posts reserved for persons with disabilities.
He was presiding over a meeting of the all the organizations of disabled category. The Secretary assured the organization that a high-level meeting would soon be organized with the Chief Secretary to address their concerns and demands. Director, ESOMSA Kiran Bhadana elaborated on the various initiatives undertaken by the department to enhance the welfare of PwDs in the State.
President of the National Association for the Blind, Himachal Pradesh Deva Chand Negi, and President of the Himachal Pradesh Divyang Kalyan Sabha, Haridas Prajapati lauded the initiatives of the department to bring all major organizations representing different disability categories on a single platform for an inclusive dialogue.
They said that the key demands includes formulation of a special transfer policy for disabled employees, strict adherence to the promotion policy, increasing the retirement age of such employees to 60 years, making independent disability commissioner, giving the benefit of Mukhyamantri Awas Yajana to all the disabled unconditionally and increasing the social security pension of PwDs.
The organizations also appreciated the efforts of the department in initiating the recruitment process for 235 posts in the previous financial year. Apart from this they requested that in future, no individual organization be consulted in isolation, but all stakeholders be invited together to ensure equitable redressal of grievances based on specific disability needs. Senior officers of the departments and representatives from various PwDs organizations also participated in the meeting.
