A composite resource centre (CRC) for differently abled persons of the State will be constructed in Jharkhand by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in financial year 2019-20.
State Disability Commissioner Satish Chandra informed that the State government has been directed to identify 15 acres of land for construction of the building by the ministry.
“Until the land is not identified, a 35 room building at Namkum block will be used as a temporary CRC building, which will start functioning in April," he said.
The CRC would have the option for rehabilitation, skill training and also medical facilities. “The doctors at the in house hospital in the centre will perform corrective surgeries for the differently abled and there would also be a provision for OPD. Also, artificial limbs will be made for them at the centre,” Chandra said.
The CRC will be run by National Institute of Rehabilitation and Training, Odisha. The differently abled persons of the state can also get their disability certificate made at this centre.
“This will be the first of its kind centre in the state and would prove to be very helpful for all the differently abled persons. The centre would also organize awareness camps about various schemes for differently abled persons in all the districts,” Chandra said.
Meanwhile, the State government would also be reviving the six district disability rehabilitation centres which have been dysfunctional for over five years.
"These centres were funded by the union government but the funds were stopped due to technical reasons. As a result, the centres were shut down," the commissioner said.
He added, "Now the state government plans to revive these centres with its own funds.
An amount of Rs. 2 crore has already been set aside by the government for this."
The six centres are at Ranchi, Dumka, Hazaribag, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Palamu. The function of these centres would be similar to CRC.
At present there are 4.6 lakh persons who are certified as differently abled of which 1.7 lakh are linked to Swami Vivekananda Nishakt Swalamban Protsahan Yojna. Under this schemethe beneficiaries are being given Rs. 600 per month, which is now going to be increased to Rs.1000 a month as announced by the Chief Minister during ongoing budget session of the assembly.
However, according to census of 2011, there are 7 lakh differently abled persons in the state.