Repeated failure of the government in fulfilling the demands of the physically disabled persons in the state led to the disabling of Mumbai’s lifeline on Wednesday after protesters resorted to rail roko, and gheraoed CST for nearly four hours. Independent MLA Bachoo Kadu, who spearheaded the protest through his Prahar Sanghatana, said that though the government had assured that the demands of the physically disabled would be sorted within a certain period, there has been no move in the Mantralaya administration in that regard. Jolted by the magnitude of the protest and its repercussions, the state machinery quickly swung into action and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan himself decided to meet Mr Kadu on Thursday at 4 pm. Sanjay Shrivastav, a protester from the Prahar organisation, while speaking to The Asian Age said that over 16 lakh handicapped persons across the sate have been demanding basic facilities like implementation of a 1996 law which reserves three per cent of the shops in the civic-run commercial complexes for the physically disabled. The law further provides for scholarship to this category and marriages between disabled and non-disabled persons, among others. Mr Kadu said, “We are fighting for the basic rights of the physically handicapped since 2007. Each time, ministers and bureaucrats gave false assurances. On February 5 this year, CM Prithviraj Chavan and DCM Ajit Pawar at a joint meeting assured us to resolve all our demands within a period of one month,” adding, “When nothing happened till May, I met the officials from the social justice department and asked about the status of our demands. He reassured us again. Keeping our patience, we waited till August. But, when we realised that the assurances are empty, we protested at Mantralaya.” According to Mr R.D. Shinde, secretary of the social justice department, their officials have sent the files to the concerned departments. He further said that the order to implement the reservation of three per cent shops in commercial complexes has been conveyed to all local civic bodies. “The issue of providing financial aid to promote marriage between physically disabled and non-disabled persons has to be sanctioned by the Cabinet. The decision to provide scholarship to the disabled students rests with the finance department. The proposals are almost ready to be sent to the concerned departments,” he added.
