BENGALURU: Women and Child Development Minister Umashree on Sunday announced that Karnataka will soon have four per cent reservation in A and B categories of government jobs for differently abled people. “Previously, reservation for the differently-abled in Group A and Group B posts was three per cent. C and D categories have five per cent reservation,” Umashree said at a programme to mark World Disability Day.
The Supreme Court had in June last year ordered that three per cent reservation be provided in all posts and services under the government. “We are working on framing rules to have four per cent reservation in Group A and B posts,” she said.
She also said the department had initiated efforts to take care of blind mothers. Karnataka has received nine awards for empowering the diabled, and the state gives a monthly allowance of `400 to at least 4 lakh people with disabilities, she added.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was supposed to attend the event, gave it a miss. But he tweeted that “In 2016-17, Karnataka got a National Award for being the best state in empowerment of persons with disabilities.”
Even as Umashree and Women and Child Development secretary Uma Mahadevan patted themselves on the department’s achievements, a disabled individual disrupted the celebration briefly alleging that the motor vehicles given by the department were of substandard quality.
35-year-old Shashidhar K S, a resident of Heggenahalli, lost his left leg to polio. In 2014 he met with an accident on the two wheeler (with support wheels) provided by the department. “The vehicle keeps switching off. It is of substandard quality. The spare parts are not even available with the company showroom. The department has purchased substandard quality vehicles and have cheated the disabled,” he said.
He was hit by a speeding vehicle from the rear as his two-wheeler abruptly stopped, he said. “I had to undergo an operation, thanks to this vehicle provided by the department,” he added.
For the past three years, he has been unemployed, he said, as a consequence of the accident. “Every year they spend lakhs of ruppees on such a public function and keep announcing the same schemes. There is nothing new. The differently abled here clap to their announcements unaware of the reality,” he said.
A 57-year-old Rajajinagar resident also had problems with the vehicle provided. “We find it difficult to find spare parts. If the vehicle stops, we cannot even push it. It is more of an inconvenience than relief.”