Guwahati: India is in the process of formulating a new law to replace that on the disabled but most states do not even follow the existing legislation, the head of national panel for the disabled said on Sunday.
The government must go for a access audit in all public facilities in the country to ascertain whether these are disability friendly or not, said Chief Commissioner for Person with Disabilities P.K. Pincha.
“The governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are doing really well as far as the issue of disabilities are concerned. Both the states have a separate ministry and directorate for dealing with the issues of disabilities,” he said.
Pincha rated the northeastern state of Manipur at the last in implementing the guidelines of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, while the Assam government does not have a clear policy so far to tackle the issues or persons with disabilities
However, the Assam government is preparing a policy for the disabled persons now, he noted.
“In the whole of the country, only 14 state governments have appointed a full time commissioner with independent charge to tackle the issues of disability and disabled persons,” Pincha said adding that he had written to all the state government to appoint full time commissioners to handle the issue.
“Persons with disabilities are like any other common citizens of the country and the constitution of India has given them similar rights as citizens. It is pathetic to see that even after 16 years of enforcement of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, the country is not very sensitive towards the rights of persons with disabilities,” he lamented.
This makes it difficult to ascertain whether the persons with disability are getting the benefits under various schemes, which were given to them by the respective state governments, he added. (IANS)