Only 939 out of the 10,804 registered persons with disability (PWDs) of eight districts, Cuttack, Ganjam, Kendrapada,Khurda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Puri and Sundargarh, in the State have worked under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) during the financial year 2012-13.The number of PWDs who worked under the NREGA 2011-12 was 1,344 during 2011-12.
This shows a huge decrease in the number of PWDs getting work under the scheme. Though the PWDs register their name for the scheme, the output is not satisfactory as most of the jobs are not disabled-friendly, said Swabhiman chief executive Dr Sruti Mohapatra Mohapatra at a Press meet here on Friday.
Mohapatra said that according to District Rural Development Agency officials, people with disabilities are not getting actual benefits of the three per cent reservation meant for them in Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and Mo Kudia schemes due to several reasons. In 2013-14, only 1.15 per cent of the total houses were sanctioned to person with disability under the IAY.
All these data show the poor performance of 0.1 per cent by the State Panchayati Raj Department, which has three per cent mandate on disability through these schemes, lamented Dr Mohapatra here.
Sharing a research-based data on Disability Rights Budget Analysis, Dr Mohapatra said that the State Government is not properly implementing the recommendation of the Planning Commission during the 11th five-year plan, which had specified three per cent budget allocation for disability and identified 17 Ministries to mandatorily have a disability component in their budget, rued Mohapatra.
“While interviewing Government officials about their expenditure on disability section, almost all of them said that disability is the mandate of the State Women and Child Development Department and they have not been allocated any budget for the section,” said Mohapatra, adding that the State Government should instruct all departments, including transport, home and higher education to properly implement and utilise the three per cent budget allocation for PWDs.
Besides, she underscored the need for formation of an independent department for disability, to which a separate budget would be allocated for the overall welfare of PWDs.
