KURNOOL: A.P. Legislative Council Chairman A. Chakrapani promised on Saturday to hold a day-long meeting with MLCs and MLAs to chalk out an agenda for the social and economic empowerment of differently-abled persons and aged people besides taking steps to resolve their problems.
Addressing a meeting on the World Differently-abled Day at Sunayana auditorium at the Collectorate here, he said that the differently-abled persons were bestowed with various talents and they should be helped with love and kindness to display their prowess.
Several voluntary organisations were supporting the persons with disabilities and such initiatives must be taken up in a much bigger way, Mr. Chakrapani said. He gave away wheelchairs, tricycles and marriage incentive cheques to beneficiaries.
Kurnool Joint Collector C. Harikiran said 55,000 differently-abled persons were being given pension in the district. The government directed issuance of Antyodaya cards to persons aged above 60 in all families and the process of identifying them was underway, he said.
A sensory park was sanctioned with an outlay of Rs. 5 crore for Kurnool, he said and promised steps to fill backlog vacancies reserved for the differently-abled. Ninety-five persons applied for handicapped certificates and 80,000 of them were given certificates so far, Mr. Harikiran said. Three camps were already held to assess their disabilities and the fourth one would be held this month. Proposals were being sent to the government to construct special toilets for the differently-abled, he added.
