Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Minister launches scheme for the mentally retarded

MADURAI: The Government sanctioned Rs.18 crore for monthly maintenance grant for mentally retarded children and now 31,000 were getting the benefit in the State, said Minister for Social Welfare Pongothai Aladi Aruna here on Friday.

She was launching the Rs.500 monthly maintenance grant scheme at a function jointly organised by the Department of Disabled Rehabilitation and Department of Social Welfare.

The Minister distributed orders worth Rs.11 lakh to 550 beneficiaries under the monthly maintenance scheme that would benefit all mentally retarded people irrespective of age and economic status.

Briefing about various schemes implemented by the Government of Tamil Nadu through the Department of Disabled Rehabilitation and Department of Social Welfare, the Minister said that this scheme had pulled the parents of mentally retarded children out of a self-imposed isolation, besides creating an attitudinal change among them.

Collector S.S. Jawahar said that as instructed by the Minister, the district administration would identify an acre of land to construct a home for mentally retarded adults. Steps would be construct a state-of-the-art rehabilitation office on the Collectorate premises at a cost of Rs.32 lakh. The rehabilitation office distributed 12,000 national identity cards to the physically challenged people by conducting 52 camps in Madurai district in the past six months.

The Collector also stressed that the administration would take effective steps to form at least 500 self-help groups to enhance the economic and social status of the differently-abled persons in the district.

Under the monthly maintenance grant scheme, each beneficiary would get Rs.500 that would be sent to the homes of the chosen beneficiaries by money order.

People who were suffering from various forms of mentally retardation such as cerebral palsy, autism and multiple disabilities were eligible for the scheme. Age or income was no bar to get the benefit.

Later, the Minister distributed welfare assistance worth Rs.15.60 lakh to 692 beneficiaries through Department of Disabled Rehabilitation, Rs.56.74 lakh to 370 beneficiaries under the Sivakami Ammaiyar Memorial Girl Children Protection Scheme through Social Welfare Department and Rs.5.42 lakh to 245 beneficiaries through Integrated Children Development Services. Seed money worth Rs.1 lakh was distributed to 10 self-help groups.

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