Karnataka on course in helping disabled persons:Kumaraswamy

Bangalore, Dec 26 (UNI) Karnataka will form a separate Corporation for the Development of the physically challenged population in the State and double the honorarium provided to them, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today said.

Asserting that the State had not lagged behind in providing benefits to the disabled persons he told a meeting of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that the monthly allowance paid to the physically challenged persons would be doubled from Rs 400. He said the provisions of the Disabilities Act 1995, including implementation of reservation policy and providing accessibility in all public buildings and accessibility in pavements have been adopted by his government.

He said the government has issued guidelines to ensure a minimum of 15 per cent reservation for the physically challenged persons while recruiting for Bangalore-One centres. It was also proposed to double the number of bus passes from the present on lakh to 2 lakh passes from next fiscal year, he said.

The NHRC acting chairman Justice V Shivaraj Patil, who had reviewed the various departments relating to disability issues has said the State had taken many laudable actions for the welfare of persons of disabled, but still there was a long way to go. He said that some of the measures initiated by the Karnataka government should be a model to other states.

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