MANGALORE: In the final reckoning, the empowerment of persons with disabilities in the state remains a case of so near and yet so far.
State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities K V Rajanna, in his 34-page bare-all document submitted to the chief minister and chief secretary among others, asserts that if these half a dozen committees were to meet regularly, the provisions envisaging equal opportunities under Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, would be implemented in toto.
State Coordination Committee
Set up under the Act, members, including minister and chief secretary of women and child development, meet biannually to frame rules for policies overseeing effective rehabilitation of differently-abled.
Status
Never met even once after June 29, 2009.
State Executive Committee
Set up under the Act, members meet once in three months to translate the decisions of state coordination committee into action.
Status
*The last meeting was held in November 9, 2009.
The committee was first set up in 1995 to ensure that all departments cooperate in rehabilitation of the differently-abled. The committee which was reconstituted about two months ago has never met. The grants committee, not reconstituted since a decade, is accused of not supporting deserving social pressure groups.
Nodal committee
The document also reveals how the prejudiced attitude of nodal department for implementation all programmes of the differently-abled, is the main barrier to their empowerment.
On July 15 2011, the department ignoring stay orders from the Commissioner recruited 54 class-II officers without reserving a single post for differently-abled.