Was the State government ready to allocate a separate fund of ₹10 crore as requested earlier by the Director and Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, the Telangana High Court sought to know in a PIL plea on the welfare of physically challenged persons during COVID-19 pandemic.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy instructed Advocate General B.S. Prasad to inform it by Wednesday the government’s stand on the issue. Hearing the petition recently, the bench requested the government to enhance the allocations to District Welfare Officers taking into consideration the large number of differently-abled persons in different districts.
In a report filed earlier by the AG as per the bench’s direction, it was stated that Director and Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities B. Shailaja had moved a proposal to establish an exclusive fund of ₹10 crore for the welfare of physically challenged persons in the State. The government had not taken any decision on it so far.
The petitioner’s counsel K. Pavan Kumar said there was massive variation in allotment of funds to different districts. For example, while the districts of Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy provided with ₹5 lakh each, other districts were given ₹1 lakh each. There were nearly 45,000 physically challenged persons in Warangal (Rural) and Warangal (Urban) districts.
The amount allotted for these districts was ₹1 lakh each. Mr. Pavan Kumar argued that government needs to come to the rescue of such persons since majority of them were unemployed. In a few cases, family members may see them as a burden. Even as the plea was being heard for over past two months, the government failed to respond to the proposal for allocation of additional funds.
