The city has turned into a combat zone of sorts with trouble brewing between the District Differently abled Welfare Office and several NGOs that run homes for the differently abled.
According to Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995, institutions set up for persons with disabilities, need to fulfil certain norms, to receive a certificate of recognition from the government.
Persons who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, have cerebral palsy, those with loco motor disability, mental retardation, and mental illness come under the purview of the Act.
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So, the special homes that are run for such persons need to possess a building licence, sanitary certificate, fire safety approval, and building stability certificate.
According to a top official, there are 30 schools for children in Tiruchi, but seven of them are either yet to receive or renew their licence.
Many persons who operate these centres are not aware of the norms, so officials who had conducted an inspection recently have given them one month’s time to renew or apply for their licence for recognition from the government. Otherwise, there will be severe consequences, say officials.
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But those who run these schools beg to differ.
“We had applied for a renewal earlier this year in January, but officials have not yet renewed our licence. We run our premises on rented buildings and have provided all the facilities to the best of our abilities as we are a service organisation, not a business. But officials still find some odd reason and refuse to grant us approval. Moreover, whenever there is anew officials, they state new rules,” says a director of an institute on condition of anonymity.
Some schools had become so frustrated that they had changed their names from special school to “remedial centre” or “therapy unit” so that they would just need a practitioner’s licence and need not worry about other approvals.