Hyderabad: Families of disabled hobbled by ration woes

Telangana govt urged to emulate States such as Delhi and Kerala to provide immediate relief to the vulnerable sections of society

Hyderabad: As the enduring of lockdown is causing pain and misery to the poor and marginal sections, particularly, the persons with disabilities (PwDs) are having to face greater suffering on account of their physical infirmities and are the worst-hit among the vulnerable sections pleading for some sort of solace.

"We are frightened to watch long queues at fair price shops. I am the mother of a disabled child and can't stand in queues for long, leaving alone my baby at home. The authorities must do something to rid us of this situation and help us get rations without such suffering," appealed Haleema Begum of Chintalmet.

Similar is the case of B Mallesh, the father of two disabled children. "It is not at all easy for us to get rations through such a rush at fair price shops. It is better if the authorities made some separate arrangements for the disabled families."

Presently, there are around 25 lakh disabled people in the state divided into 21 categories according to the nature of their disabilities. Though the SADAREM (Software for Assessment of Disabled for Access Rehabilitation and Empowerment) certificates have been issued to 7,81,317 members in the state, only 4,95,058 divyang members are getting Aasara pensions. There are 2,86,259 more disabled members still waiting to be benefit from the scheme.

Some leaders also wrote a letter demanding an urgent special relief package for all the 21 categories of differently abled people in the state to help them at this crucial point of time. The president of National Platform for the Rights of Disabled (NPRD), Gorenkala Narsimha, demanded that the government provide three months of Aasara pension in advance and 35 kg rice per head to all the disabled persons in the state.

Reminding that the states such as Delhi and Kerala have taken up similar initiatives in their respective states to provide immediate relief to the vulnerable section of the society, he said, "the Telangana government, which always stands in the forefront of providing welfare to the underprivileged groups in the state has to emulate the same."