SHILLONG: Social Welfare Minister Kyrmen Shylla said on Thursday there were significant challenges affecting the disability and rehabilitation services in the North East and lack of accessible information made it difficult to plug the gaps and overcome the hurdles.
He was speaking at the national seminar on ‘Strategic Plan for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in North Eastern States’ at the State Convention Centre here. Pointing to the measures initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Shylla said, “One of the measures is the setting up of seven national institutes to effectively deal with the multi-dimensional problem of the disabled population in each major area of disability.”
He added that the setting up of the institutes would be a great opportunity for youngsters to undergo training in disability rehabilitation.
The seminar was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare, Office of the Commissioner of PwDs.
“The prime objective of the seminar is to prepare a strategic plan for the northeastern region for the next five years and hoped that the seminar will promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the well-being of persons with disabilities,” he said.
In Meghalaya, there are 44,317 persons with disabilities and 37,566 of them reside in rural areas, the minister informed.
Dolly Chakraborty, joint secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Persons with Disabilities, said there is a need to collect present data for rehabilitation plans. “Other than that there is a need for capacity building not only in terms of infrastructure but also in the pool of technical professionals in the sector, we need a dedicated pool of professionals and for this we have to introduce more courses in institutes,” she said.
