
VELLORE: Demanding higher monthly allowance for beneficiaries, 75 persons with disabilities (PwDs) and their caregivers of Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently-Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) staged a ‘fill the jail’ protest outside Vellore head post office around 10 am on Tuesday.
The PwDs said the revenue department provides Rs 1,500 monthly for persons with 40%-75% disability and the differently abled welfare department provides Rs 2,000 monthly for persons with more than 75% disability.
S Rajamani, a protester, said, “The Andhra Pradesh government provides up to Rs 5,000 as allowance and Rs 15,000 monthly pension for fully disabled persons. Our allowances should also be hiked, considering the cost of living and our medical expenses. We are asking for our rights as we also pay our taxes.”
Several others said that they were not being provided work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on a regular basis. “As per rules, people with 40-60% disability should be provided work under the Act.
However, in Brahmapuram panchayat, we are denied work due to our disability,” alleged P Natarajan, one of the members. A Rajendran, also from the same panchayat in Katpadi taluk, said, “Sometimes, we get work only for 25 out of the 100 days.” They also claimed that the monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 provided for persons with severe disabilities had been pending for around two years for over 650 people.
The protesters, decrying the state for not hiking the allowance, attempted to block Anna Salai, and were detained for a short period by the local police.
An official from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office told TNIE that the state, besides the maintenance allowance, offers around 77 schemes for the PwDs, including provision of loan, assistive devices, Antyodaya Anna Yojana and employment assistance, which may not be provided by the Andhra Pradesh government.”
On delay in disbursal of the Rs 2,000 allowance, the official, citing a delay at the head office, said that the allotments for 835 applications were given two months ago and the allowances are reaching the beneficiaries. The official assured that action against those concerned regarding the MGNREGA issue would be taken if they received a complaint.