The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry on Tuesday asked all States to implement its advisory for the care and safety of persons with disabilities (PwD) during the lockdown as complaints of PwD unable to access care and essential services continued to pour in.
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The Ministry’s Department of Empowerment of PwD wrote to all State Commissioners for PwD to implement the guidelines issued on March 26 to ensure welfare of PwD during the three-week lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. States and Union Territories had been asked to ensure that caregivers, maids, essential services and NGOs working with PwD were able to reach them during the lockdown.
In a letter to all State Commissioners, the department secretary, Shakuntala Gamlin, wrote on Tuesday that her office was “receiving complaints regarding difficulties being faced by PwDs in getting services of caregivers, maids and access to essential items due to non-issue of travel passes to NGOs/PwD associations/ caregivers etc.”
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States were asked to ensure that local movement passes for caregivers of PwD are issued on priority and that food, water and medicine are provided to PwD.
