Differently abled persons waiting for three-wheelers for two years

Tenders not floated yet for the motorcycles, says federation

The Udupi district unit of the Federation of Differently Abled Persons Associations in Karnataka has said that nearly 200 differently abled applicants in Udupi district had not been provided the promised three-wheel motorcycles for the last two years.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Wilfred V. Gomes, president of the federation, said that though the Department for the Differently Abled Persons had sanctioned the three-wheelers about two years ago, they had not been handed over to them because tenders had not been floated.

In anticipation that they would get the three-wheelers, many differently abled persons had also got Learner’s Licence and got certificates declaring their disability from the District Government Hospital. But they had only been waiting for the three-wheelers since then.

Many had re-applied for Learner’s Licence in the hope that they would get the three-wheelers. In fact, the officers of the Department of Transport began to question why the applicants were re-applying for Learner’s Licence. It was not easy for the differently abled persons to keep re-applying for Learner’s Licence or to get certificates of disability again and again as they had to spend a lot of money to reach these places.

Though this matter had been brought to the notice of the district administration, the zilla panchayat and the legislators in the district, they just kept saying that they would look into the matter. “Was it not imperative on the part of the elected representatives and officers to be proactive in this matter?” he asked.

Jagadish Bhat, vice-president of the federation, said that instead of dragging its feet, the government should float tenders immediately for the three-wheelers.

The last time when the government had provided three-wheelers, a company from Haveri had bagged the tender. But the company had not installed extra equipment required for such vehicles properly.

The differently abled persons had to struggle to get spares as there was no service centre in the district. Such an arrangement should be avoided this time, he said.