Shillong, Oct 3: The Bethany Society on Thursday suggested before the expert committee on reservation policy that the Meghalaya Reservation Policy should not neglect the four percent reservation for the People with Disabilities (PwDs).
The delegation of the Bethany Society which met the expert committee members include Executive Director, Bertha G Dkhar who is visually impaired and its secretary, Carmo Noronha.
Talking to reporters, Noronha said that they have insisted that the implementation of the 4 percent reservation for the PWDs should be transparent.
According to him, they told the expert committee that at the moment they don’t have any idea how many percent of PWDs are actually employed and in what categories.
Meanwhile, he said that they have raised that the state reservation policy should be in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and Meghalaya State policy for Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities.
“Both the policy and the Act ensure that there is 4 percent reservation in all government jobs for PWDs. Our submission that the state policy cannot neglect the four percent reservation,” he said.
Replying to a query, Bethany Society secretary said that at the moment, the government is trying to implement the 4 percent job reservation but at the ground it is not really being followed.
“We feel that job reservation for the PWDs should be there at the district level as per the law and as per the qualification. The post for the various cadres and the position for the PWDs must be identified,” Bethany Society secretary said.
He asserted that there should be evidence that the four percent reservation that this is being followed before recruiting other people.
“As per international figures it should be 8 to 10 percent. But the Government is going by the census figure which is at 2.1 percent,” Bethany Society secretary said.
Meanwhile, expert committee member, Justice Satish Chauhan said that the various individuals and groups have filed their representations.
“We had invited them and we are also listening to them personally to hear their views. We will be going to Garo Hills to conduct the public hearing after Shillong,” Justice Chauhan.
Replying to a query, he said that the committee will try to complete its job and submit its recommendations at the earliest.