VELLORE: District administration officials responsible for conducting special grievance redressal meetings told TNIE that such meetings for persons with disabilities (PwDs) would resume soon -- bimonthly under the collector and monthly under the deputy collector or revenue divisional officer.
Since June, these meetings have been halted, leading to a backlog of issues, concerns over which were expressed by Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARADAC) district vice-president G Rajendran a few weeks ago.
Rajendran listed several pending grievances, including the members not getting Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards, the unavailability of jobs for the PwDs under the MGNREGS, and delays in the distribution of medical kits to people with spinal cord injuries, assistive devices and pensions. He said, “For over a year now, 6,800 PwDs in the district have not received the Rs 1,500 pension from the Department of Welfare of Differently Abled Persons and 873 severely disabled individuals have not received the Rs 2,000 pension via the District Differently Abled Rehabilitation Office (DDRO).”
Though the state releases these funds, he said, the district administration could compile such grievances and forward them to the state for a quicker resolution.
Several members of the association have reported difficulties in effectively conveying their issues during the weekly grievance redressal meetings, with the collector having to attend to scores of petitions simultaneously.