Differently-abled Rights Society seeks 5% political reservation

Musheerabad: All India Physically Handicapped Rights Society president Kolli Nageshwar Rao demanded that all the political parties mention clearly in their respective manifestos the measures to be taken to address the issues faced by differently-abled. He was speaking here at the meeting of physically handicapped persons held at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Nageshwar demanded the state government to increase the pension to Rs 5,000 from the current Rs 1,500. There are around 20 lakh physically handicapped persons in the state and with their families form a vote bank of 50 lakh, he said. Based on their population, at least five per cent of Assembly seats should be reserved for differently-abled, Nageshwar added. Many welfare schemes for minorities, backward and dalits have been initiated, while a few schemes have been initiated for them, he said.

Alleging that PHs were not getting reserved jobs under roster 56, Nageshwar said that roster for PHs be changed to number 10. He also demanded recruitment of four per cent of reserved jobs under special appointments to be done immediately. He warned that they will lay siege to offices of political parties if they are ignored.