Shimla, December 03 : Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister said that State Government was committed for the welfare of physical handicapped persons in the State and added that Government was ensuring effective implementation of various schemes for their socio economic betterment. He was speaking on the concluding function of two day long fourth State level Sports meet for Special Children at Mandi today organised by Youth Services and Sports, Education and Scheduled Castes, OBCs and Minorities Departments jointly. Over 600 special children from 11 districts of the State participated in this meet.
Chief Minister said that to ensure their participation in all fields, the State Government had implemented State Policy for persons with disability from this year which aimed at to identify schemes and programmes for special children and implemented these in right perspective.
Prof. Dhumal said that special children were being provided fee education from first class to university level including technical institutions . He said that five institutions were being run in the State for special children where free education were being imparted upto 10th standard. He said that Government had also launched special campaign to fill up the backlog of handicapped under 3 percent reservation given to them in the government jobs.
Chief Minister said that physical handicapped persons had been allowed free travelling in HRTC buses. He said that the amount of scholarship being given to handicapped children has been doubled in the recent past.
Prof. Dhumal said that at present 32436 handicapped persons were being given handicapped relief allowance of Rs. 330 per month. He said that physical handicapped persons were also being given loan on cheap rate of interest for their rehabilitation.
Chief Minister said that to give boost to sports activities in rural areas, playgrounds were being constructed in 324 panchayats at a cost of Rs. one lakh each and 8 block at a cost of Rs. 5 lakh each by the Youth Services and Sports Department of the State. He said that 1328 playgrounds had been developed so far. Rs. seven crore were being spent under this scheme during current financial year.
Prof. Dhumal also announced to upgrade High School, Sundernagar set up for special children to 10+2 standard.
Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Sarveen Chaudhary, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said that Government was implementing various schemes for special children was implementing various schemes for special children and added further that a policy had been formulated for them under which various programmes for their rehabilitation had been taken in hand.
Shri J.R. Katwal, Director, Youth Services and Sports welcoming the Chief Minister gave the details of the sports meet organized for the special children.
Shri Jai Ram Thakur, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, Shri Dile Ram, MLA and Chairman of Finance Commission, Shri Anil Sharma, MLA, Shri Ram Swaroop, Vice Chairman, Civil Supplies Corporation, Shri Mohan Lal Joshi, Chairman, MILKFED, Smt. Mallika Nadda, President, Special Olympics of India, Himachal Pradesh Chapter and senior officers were present on the occasion.
