Does the State Government have any information about persons with disabilities employed in its various departments? No, and the Government does not seem to be interested in compiling such a database.

Repeated inquiries by the Office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities with the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizens have failed to yield any response. A number of letters sent to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) over the past few months have also drawn a blank.

So frustrated was State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities K.V. Rajanna over the unavailability of the information that he was forced to conclude on Friday that the State Government had not maintained any data on the employment of persons with disabilities in its various departments.

The Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has not compiled the data. But the DPAR, which maintains the primary information on government employees in various departments, too has not taken any interest in ensuring that such crucial data is available, he regretted.

“I have written to the DPAR thrice since I took over as the Commissioner in August 2010, but to no avail. In its reply to my latest letter sent in December 2011, the DPAR has merely stated that my request has been forwarded to the Principal Secretary to the Department of Women and Child Welfare,” Mr. Rajanna told reporters here.

“Clearly, the State Government has no information. The departments that should have maintained the data are merely passing the buck,” he said.

Mr. Rajanna said the number of persons with disabilities in government departments in the State could be around 5,000 to 6,000. “I have got these figures from NGOs,” he said, adding that persons with disabilities are entitled to 5 per cent jobs in groups C and D and 3 per cent in groups A and B. Karnataka fares poorly when compared with other States in providing employment to persons with disabilities. The process of identifying jobs suitable for persons with various disabilities is proceeding at a snail's pace, he said.

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