Members of the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) staged a protest on Langs Garden Road seeking increased financial assistance and immediate enforcement of the Supreme Court order for three per cent job reservation for the differently abled.
B Jansirani, State president of TARATDAC, said that the health and welfare of differently-abled people was directly dependant on their economic status and that the current assistance provided by the government was insufficient. “We are asking the government to increase the financial assistance from `1000 to ` 3000,” she stated.
As for the implementation of the 3 per cent employment reservation ordered by the Supreme Court early in October, Jansirani said that the order was being implemented reluctantly.
“There are several vacancies that can be filled by differently abled people but the government is vacillating on taking the necessary steps to do this,” she said.
Their other demand was to lower the percentage of disability to qualify for the disability benefit from 60 per cent to 40 per cent to enable more people to avail of the option.
The protest saw the participation of almost 1,700 differently-abled people and their supporters walking the length of Langs Garden Road, after which representatives from TARATDAC met the State Minister for Social Welfare, B Valarmathi, and put forth their demands.