The State Government’s Social Welfare Department has distributed advanced and standardised prosthetic devices to more than 28,000 disabled persons under Samarthya Vikas Yojana during the last seven years, officials stated. It is noteworthy that the Department has initiated this scheme for certifying disabled people, to enhance their development and for their socio-economic and professional rehabilitation.
Officials of Social Welfare Department informed on Friday that under this scheme, suitable, durable and scientifically designed and standardised prosthetic devices and equipments have been distributed to disabled people. They informed that 4268 beneficiaries in year 2008-09, 3002 beneficiaries in year 2009-10, 3995 beneficiaries in year 2010-11, 3194 beneficiaries in year 2011-12, 2085 beneficiaries in year 2012-13, 3438 beneficiaries in year 2013-14 and nearly 9000 beneficiaries in year 2014-15 were provided advanced and standardised prosthetic devices and equipments under the scheme.
Notably, Saksham, a boarding school, is functioning for the disabled students at Geedam Development Block in South Bastar (Dantewada) in Chhattisgarh. It is only one of its kind of a school with ultra-modern equipment keeping in mind the special requirements of the students, officials stated. Efforts are on to boost the confidence of students and encourage them to stand on their feet and not to depend on anybody.
The building is built keeping in view the special needs of the disabled children in carrying out their daily chores. The special children go to the school for normal children. In the afternoon they attend special classes catering to their needs. Notably, a 100-seater boarding school was built at a cost of Rs30 lakh under the Rajiv Gandhi Education Mission by the district administration. The students are trained in Braille writing.
The boards are in Braille style of writing, books are written in Braille and the books are available in library. The students sing the National Anthem in sign language. The students carry on their daily routine without any outside help. The disabled children participate in cultural programmes also. Moreover, the Chief Minister Raman Singh in January this year announced that disabled people of Chhattisgarh who undergo surgery at Narayan Seva Sansthan, Udaipur in Rajasthan will be given Rs5000 as financial aid.
For this, beneficiaries will have to register their names with the Social Welfare Department, he said, after inaugurating a free disability surgery camp in Raipur. All the disabled people who have done their registration at the Department will be provided with the financial aid. No limits on the number of beneficiaries have been set. This will be a permanent scheme of State Government, Singh said.