The State Government on Saturday said it would form a new department named Samajakalayan Bibhag (Social Welfare Department) to deal with various issues relating to the physically-challenged persons.
A decision to this effect was taken a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here.The proposed department would also deal with matter relating to old-age and other persons which are now being managed by the Women and Child Development Department.
This apart, it was decided that a disability rehabilitation centre would be set up in every district where disabled persons would undergo corrective surgeries.The other major decisions taken at the meeting included establishment of a special ITI at Jatni for disabled persons and provision of laptops with special software for visually-challenged persons.
Among others, Woman & Child Development Minister Usha Devi, Energy, IT and Disability Welfare Minister Pranab Prakash Das, Development Commissioner AP Padhi and W&CD Secretary Saswat Mishra were present.