Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered a special statewide recruitment drive to clear the backlog of vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the various departments of the state government.The Chief Minister issued the directive here today during his meeting with the MLAs from Doaba region.An official spokesperson stated that Captain Amarinder Singh had directed the Chief Secretary to clear the backlog of vacancies meant for persons with disability in a time-bound manner on top priority.This directive came in view of the Chief Minister’s meeting with a specially-abled international level Para Badminton player Sanjeev Kumar, who had called on the former at Punjab Bhawan this morning.
The issue was also raised by Member Parliament from Gurdaspur, Sunil Jakhar, during the Chief Minister’s meeting with Doaba MLAs during discussion on pre-budget proposals.The Chief Minister ordered the Social Security Department to immediately identify the vacancies in all the departments so as to initiate the process for special recruitment drive for persons with disabilities at the earliest.
Reiterating his government’s firm commitment to enable the disabled persons to lead a life of dignity, the Chief Minister also asked the Chief Secretary to monitor the progress in this regard regularly so as to accomplish this task in a fixed time.The Chief Minister also directed the Department of Social Security to provide wheelchairs and other aids to disabled persons, the spokesperson further disclosed, adding that the Captain Amarinder government was committed to the welfare of all sections of the society, particularly the disadvantagedPertinently, since taking over in March 2017, as many as 577 disabled persons have already been provided employment by the state government, the spokesperson added.Besides providing monthly disability pension of Rs. 750/- each to nearly 1.69 lac beneficiaries, the government is extending several facilities to the PWDs, including 50% bus fare concession in government buses and free travel facility to the visually impaired. The state government is also running special schools for disabled persons, in which 3428 Children with Disabilities (CWDs) are enrolled from 1st to 8th standard and 233 are studying in 9th to 12th class. The students are given scholarship of Rs.600 per month by the Education Department. In addition, students upto 12th standard are also given textbooks free of cost.