State indifferent to the handicapped

Ludhiana, April 26 They may be physically handicapped but the spirits are high. Devoted to the work they are engaged in these special boys and girls have earned appreciation from their employers by their dedication to duty.

But these hardworking and earnest workers have a grouse, and an apparently valid one. The State government does not seem to be serious in absorbing them in government jobs despite provision of job reservation for the handicapped.

You could be pleasantly surprised to see physically challenged (deaf, dumb or polio ridden) girls working at a number of beauty parlours in the town. They have an excellent art to make others beautiful by doing their make-over. Many of these are the lone bread-winners in the family.

Not just these girls but there are hundreds of other physically challenged youths, many of whom well educated, who have placed themselves well in local industries (working in garment industry, nut bolt industry, cycle industry etc.). Still their only grievance remains that the State government was not doing enough to absorb them in government departments. There are 4.25 lakh physically disabled persons in Punjab.

Around 10 deaf and dumb girls have been employed at a beauty parlour here and they are doing excellent, even better than their normal counterparts, in providing services to the clients. Indira Ahluwalia, who has trained about 50 such physically challenged girls till date, said that they had excellent aesthetic sense.

“The clients prefer to get their make-over from these deaf and dumb girls because they are sincere, hard-working and have great aesthetic sense. They are getting salaries in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 a month,” said Ahluwalia.

Similarly, Ajit Lakra, from Superfine Industries, said that about eight persons in his packing department were physically challenged youth, who come to the workplace on tricycles. “Those who believe that they cannot work at par with normal workers need to change their mindset as these disabled persons take their jobs seriously and are hard working,” Lakra said.

According to a survey done by the Government of India in 2011, there are around 4.25 lakh physically disable persons in Punjab. Dr Jitender Aggarwal, himself physically challenged, associated with Sarthak Educational Trust, said that the Trust provided skill based training to youth, and till date over 6,000 such persons trained by the Trust were now successfully working in the IT sector, hospitality sector, and industries across the country.

Though different NGOs have come forward to provide them skill based training so that they can be self-reliant but so far as the State government is concerned, the vacancies (as per prescribed quota) have hardly been filled up in government departments on regular basis.

Deepak, a graduate from SCD College here, is polio ridden but the disability has not dampened his spirits. He is getting Rs 7,000 a month by packing material at a local factory. But he would definitely be much better off if he could land up a government job.

A high level meeting regarding recruitments in government departments was held recently at Chandigarh under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal. Highly placed sources inform that till date, the government had not finalized about the vacancies to be filled in government departments. “How many handicapped persons would be absorbed is a secondary issue depending on the number of vacancies. Nothing has been finalized yet and it will take some more days to advertise vacancies,” said a well-placed official at Chandigarh.