Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS)
Mangalore, Dec 3: Dakshina Kannada district administration, DK zilla panchayat, women and children development department and physically and mentally challenged persons’ senior citizens empowerment department, deparment of public instruction, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana and independent service groups jointly observed ‘international day of persons with disabilities’ at Town Hall here on Saturday December 3.
Deputy speaker N Yogish Bhat inaugurated and presided over the programme. In his address he said that society must treat differently-abled persons the same way a mother cares for her special child.
"Officials concerned sit in AC rooms and restrict the grant due for differently-abled persons, which has come to our notice," he said. "They should compulsorily once in a while sit with them and have food to understand their pain and thereby respond to their problems" he added.
About keeping differently-abled persons out of the purview of BPL and APL criteria for government grants, he said that he had already brought the issue to the notice of chief minister Sadananda Gowda. At this, the audience, mostly parents of differently-abled children, broke into loud applause.
Dr K N Vijayprakash, CEO, zilla panchayat, chief guest said that there are 17,155 differently-abled persons in the district and 10 special schools. The only demand now is to consider them as aided schools, thereby making them eligible for grants. "Personal income should be considered in case of a person above 17 years with disability, and not his family income. This proposal needs to be looked into," he said. He lauded the service-oriented nature of Dr Arun Rao who even after retirement is serving as a clinical psychologist, as there are no clinical psychologists in Wenlock hospital.
On the occasion five wheelchairs were distributed to the needy.
Dhanya S Rao, Royston Pinto and Anil Mendonza who made Mangaloreans proud by securing medals in Special Olympics-2011 organized in Athens, Greece, were felicilated on the occasion.
DC Dr Channappa Gowda, ZP member Yashavanthi Alva, Asha Nayak, Dinesh Kumar Alva among others were present on the dais.