The Hindu : A shot in the arm for the disabled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

A shot in the arm for the disabled

Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR

Even as the day temperature hovers over 40 degrees Celsius, nearly 1500 disabled people from various parts of the state, braving the heat, sit down under a shamiana to listen to the leaders of different parties at the first political convention of the disabled.

Organised by the Orissa State Disability Network (OSDN) at a venue close to the State Assembly, the convention attracted representatives of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party and the Biju Janata Dal, who assured the 26 lakh disabled people of the State of their backing for their demands.

So much so that there was a smile on the face of Sruti Mohapatra, the physically challenged convener of OSDN, who is seeking to highlight the plight of the disabled people ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State.

"We are not an invisible minority. Value our votes,'' says Dr. Mohapatra, the force behind the campaign, while demanding various facilities for the disabled to exercise their voting rights.

In his address, the BJD's nominee for the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat, Mohan Jena, says that political parties should include the problems of the disabled in their election manifestos.

"If elected, I will take up the demands of the disabled people at various official fora,'' he says.

The Congress leader and editor of the leading Oriya daily Sambad, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, strongly advocates the setting up of a Disability Commission to look into the problems facing the disabled, who constitute six per cent of the total population.

The CPI(M) leader, Suresh Panigrahi, says that his party will continue to support the demands of the disabled and fight for their rights.

The demands include three per cent reservation of political constituencies, accessible polling booths, postal ballot facility as rehabilitation required long stay in hospitals and rehabilitation centres, and escorts for blind voters.

The disabled are also seeking 100 per cent medical certification in Orissa by the end of 2005, record of rights for colonies of former leprosy patients, educational rehabilitation of children of the leprosy-cured parents in residential schools, pensions for all physically challenged people living below the poverty line, and an independent Disability Commission on the lines of the National Human Rights Commission or Minorities Commission.

The charter of demands has been sent to the Election Commission, according to Dr. Mohapatra.

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