February 21, 2002

'10'

SOCIAL JUSTICE MINISTER URGES STATE GOVERNMENTS TO VIGOROUSLY IMPLEMENT THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

    The Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya has urged the states to implement the Persons with Disabilities Act vigorously so that it does not remain on paper alone. Inaugurating the National Meeting of State Commissioners to review the implementation of the Act here today, Dr. Jatiya said that this is the only Act which provides implementation organisation within its framework. He told the State Commissioners to take the help of the Chief Commissioners for Persons with Disabilities to empower disabled who constitute more than 5 percent of our population. Dr. Jatiya said that we have to tirelessly work to change the mindset of people towards physically challenged persons.

    The Social Justice & Empowerment Secretary, Shri C. Gopal Reddy urged the State Governments to provide some allocation in their budgets for implementation of the three Acts to empower the disabled persons. He said that the Office of the Chief Commissioner (Disabilities ) should collect the data regarding the number of people having benefited with implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act. This would help in improving the programmes meant to help the disabled. He called for a humane approach towards persons with disabilities.

    The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Dr. Uma Tuli said that more than 4,400 complaints were received by her office from people with disability from April to December last year. Out of this 3,380 were disposed off while 1,175 complaints were under process. This is in addition to the similar initiatives in the States. Dr. Tuli said this shows the increase of awareness among the persons with disability for getting their rights with the help of the Act.

    The Commissioners (Disabilities) from 31 states and union territories discussed various bottlenecks in implementation of the Act related to education, employment, early detection of disabilities, non-discrimination and affirmative action during the one-day conference. The meeting focused on creation of Barrier Free Environment, Employment opportunities and education for persons with disabilities.