Persons with Disabilities Call off Strike - CHENNAI

From relaxing some of the contentious conditions to removing restrictions, the State government on Saturday met key demands put forth by persons with disabilities, bringing an end to the agitation they have been staging for the past four days.

The degree of disability required for getting monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 would be reduced from 60 per cent to 40 per cent, while the condition that persons with disabilities (PwD) should be destitutes to get monthly assistance would also be removed. At present, a person should not have assets over Rs 50,000 and he/she should not have any son or daughter who are Above Poverty Line or spouse.

“I have great satisfaction in making these announcements on the concluding day of the 14th Assembly,” said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, making a suo motu statement under Rule 110 in the State Assembly on Saturday.

Making a suo motu statement under Rule 110 in the State Assembly on Saturday, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa gave a long list of measures being implemented by her government for the welfare of the differently abled.

A State-level committee, headed by Social Welfare Minister B Valarmathi, would monitor implementation of various welfare schemes for persons with disabilities (PwD), and to advise the government, she said.

The announcement brought the curtains down on the four-day long agitation by four organisations — the Tamil Nadu Assn for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled & Caregivers (TARATDAC), December 3 Movement, National Federation of the Blind-NFB and Tamil Nadu State Federation of the Deaf. “On behalf of the United Movement of the Disabled Rights Associations, we welcome the government’s announcement,” S Namburajan, general secretary, TARATDAC, said in a statement.

Speaking in the Assembly, Jayalalithaa said the government had been strictly adhering to the three per cent reservation for PwD and as many as 5,633 diff-abled people had been given employment in government and public sector undertakings since 2011. She noted that a committee headed by the chief secretary had been monitoring the implementation of the quota.




Source : The New Indian Express, 21st Feb 2016