THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has decided to write off the loans of differently abled people who passed away. Also, a decision was taken to introduce one-time settlement scheme for those who have pending loans. The loans of 28 differently abled people will be written off as per the decision and 250 of them, who have loan default, will get the opportunity for one-time settlement, Social Justice Minister K K Shylaja said here.
As part of various welfare programmes, tricycles will be distributed to as many as 1,000 differently abled persons this fiscal. She said supply orders of Rs 5.26 crore has been given for buying the tricycles. Besides this, scooters would also be distributed by the Kerala State Handicapped Persons’ Welfare Corporation. The Kerala State Beverages Corporation has given an amount of `1 crore for this, she said. She said KSHPWC, which is the state channelising agency of the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation, is yet to become self-sufficient in loan disbursement.
This is because of loan arrears. The situation could be overcome with the decision to write off the loans and introduce the one-time settlement scheme, she added.Shylaja said four regional offices of the corporation would be started at Palakkad, Kottayam, Kannur and Alappuzha. Now the corporation has regional offices in Kozhikode and Ernakulam.
Camps will be held for the differently abled people in various places for the distribution of disability aids. The camps will be held at Thavanoor (Malappuram- March 3), Perambra (Kozhikode-March 10), Tiruvalla (Pathanamthitta- March 17) and Aryad (Alappuza-March 24). An amount of `1.5 crore has been allotted for buying smart phone tablets for the visually challenged. The programme is being implemented with the cooperation of the Kerala Federation of the Blind. Besides this, laptops will be distributed to 100 visually challenged children by March 10, she said.Another decision is to modernise the manufacturing, repairing, servicing and training unit of the corporation situated at Pattoor.