The Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has stressed the need to rope in the private sector in providing jobs to the physically challenged persons. Speaking at the 44th annual conference of the Kerala Federation of the Blind here on Sunday, the Chief Minister said the technological breakthrough in the IT and Communication sectors have opened up new opportunities for the physically challenged persons including the visually challenged.
The government has already initiated steps to make use of the technological advancement in the administrative sector he said and added that the State has gone a long way in e-governance.
Underscoring the need to extended specialized training for the physically challenged persons Mr Chandy said his government would take all efforts to equip the physically challenged persons to make use of the new opportunities.
The Chief Minister said that there was a backlog in filling up the 3 per cent reservation posts for the physically challenged in government departments. According to him, 1200 reservation posts have remained vacant to be filled exclusively by the physically challenged. “These reservation vacancies have not been filled for the past seven years,” he said. All departments have been asked to report the existing vacancies for the physically challenged before march 31, he added.
“These vacancies will be filled at the earliest,” he said and added that government would discuss the matter with Kerala State Public Service Commission to expedite the procedures.
Mr Chandy said the reservation and other welfare measures for the handicapped persons were not extended out of generosity but as their Right. “Compassion alone would not do, what we need is actions which would directly benefit the needy, he added.
C K Aboobaker, president, KFB, in his introductory remarks called for setting up a separate department for the welfare of the physically challenged persons. Presently the department comes under the Social Welfare Department. A separate Department, like in many other States, would help to take up welfare measures more effectively, he said, He also called for raising the monthly pension for the physically challenged to Rs. 1,000.
Jose K Mani MP presided. Sunny Kalloor, Kottayam Municipal Chairman, P Unnikrishnan, V K Anil Kumar, and others spoke on the occasion.
