Sushma Swaraj helps couple get passports for disabled daughters

Sushma Swaraj conveyed to the parents that the girls need not go anywhere and their travel documents will delivered at their home.

New Delhi, Jan 24: A day after a septuagenarian couple approached External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with a petition seeking waiving physical appearance requirement for their two disabled daughters for getting passports, she conveyed to the parents that the girls need not go anywhere and their travel documents will delivered at their home.

"Your daughters do not have to go anywhere. The Passports will reach your house...," Swaraj tweeted. The couple had approached the minister through Change.org saying for 40 years they have been taking care of their disabled daughters.

"I am 70 and my husband is 75. We don't know how much longer we can take care of them. My younger daughter R Sarvani is 90 per cent disabled and cannot move. The elder daughter R Gayathridevi is 72 per cent disabled, when she walks, she often slips and falls and needs constant assistance," the petition had said.

"Our sons are settled in the US and Canada. They would like to take care of their sisters when we cannot. Unfortunately we have not been able to apply for a passport due to my daughters' severe physical disabilities.. The nearest Passport Seva Kendra is 110 km away from our residence and my daughters have to be personally present in order to apply.

"Travelling by bus or train is very hard for them. Due to our old age, my husband and me are also not able to help them travel. It is our humble and earnest appeal to Swaraj and the MEA to help us get passports for our daughters without insisting their physical presence at Passport Seva Centre distantly located," it had said.

PTI