Bangalore: The State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has expressed disappointment at the lack of initiative of the district administration to implement the schemes for persons with disabilities.

According to L. Krishnamurthy, State Commissioner for Disabilities, the deputy commissioners of districts, who have been appointed by the State Government as DC for Disabilities have not been regularly conducting disability "adalats" and District Disability Management Review meetings and have not been implementing the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

The districts that have not been conducting review meetings regularly include Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Bidar, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Chamarajanagar, Dharwad, Davangere, Gulbarga, Gadag, Koppal, Uttara Kannada, Kolar, Mangalore, Mysore, Raichur, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi and Bijapur.

"The implementation of the various schemes for persons with disabilities and Government orders are not up to the mark and the district officials have not taken steps to ensure that the policies of the Government are implemented for the benefit of persons with disabilities. It is a sad state of affairs," Mr. Krishnamurthy said.

He said that the three per cent reservation for disabled persons in Group A and B posts and the five per cent reservation in Group C and D posts had not been implemented properly by any of the government departments. Even the identification of posts and the roster system through which posts are reserved in certain departments such as Education department, is faulty.

"The International Day for Persons with Disabilities will have real meaning only if the officials concerned take proactive measures to implement the laws enacted for the benefit of persons with disabilities," the Commissioner added.

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