Rail concession yet to be sanctioned despite representations
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For one-and-a-half years, armed with her disability ID
card, Tamil Selvi, a Dalit woman from Dharmapuri, has been struggling to
get rail travel concession.
Despite help from
various quarters, including secretaries of two government departments,
her claim lies tangled in bureaucratic interpretations of the ‘nature of
disability’.
Tamil Selvi’s left leg was crippled by
polio and she cannot walk unless she wears callipers. She has a
disability certificate issued by the Tamil Nadu Differently Abled
Persons Welfare Board. Her picture in the card has her displaying the
bad leg, calliper and all. And yet, her battle rages on, particularly
with a senior doctor of Dharmapuri Government Hospital, reducing her to
tears as the establishment remains unrelenting and humiliating at the
same time.
“I am an LIC agent, I travel often on
work to nearby areas. Going by bus is very uncomfortable because of the
calliper. A train is very convenient, that is why I decided to approach
the hospital to sign on forms for railway concession,” she says.
However, she claims the doctor is determined to refuse her the card,
since she refused to pay the bribe of Rs. 2,000 the first time she
approached him.
Tamil Selvi says she was told that
the concession could be given only to those without both legs, while she
was capable of walking with her callipers. Also, the concession is
meant to be given to a disabled person and one attendant who will assist
him or her, but she did not require assistance.
This
twisted logic goes directly against the Persons with Disabilities Act
and the State regulations that “the holder of the identity card for
persons with disabilities is eligible to claim concessions/benefits
provided by the Central Government, State Government, and other local
authorities in accordance with the Act/Rules/Instructions issued by
these authorities from time to time.” The Railways provides travel
concessions for the disabled.
Members of the local
disability federation who took up Tamil Selvi’s case were reportedly
assaulted at the hospital for taking up her case, she charges. “The PWD
Act provides concessions only to benefit disabled persons. Here, you see
an instance of how an individual sabotages the principle by claiming to
interpret them, in a manner that is clearly disabled-unfriendly,”
S.Namburajan, of the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All types
of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC), added.
“It
is appalling, especially in a State where the government has authorised
even doctors at Primary Health Centres to issue disability certificates
to make it easy for the disabled persons,” he adds.
The
issue was taken up at a meeting of the departments of Health and
Disability, he said, and assurances were then provided that it would be
resolved as soon as possible. Earlier, Tamil Selvi says she had also
represented to the Collector of Dharmapuri for redress. Officials of the
Differently Abled Welfare Department, when contacted, said the
requisite permissions would be granted after taking up her case
specifically. The Railways has clarified that it was a matter of
interpretation of policy and a decision would be taken soon.
Though
authorities, at the highest level, have been sympathetic to her cause,
the railway concession continues to elude this Dalit woman abandoned by
her husband and who is bringing up two children all by herself. “At the
hospital, I even showed them how I had to crawl without the support of
my callipers. They asked me to come to a special camp, and back again to
the hospital. I’ve been sent here and there and treated like a dog,”
she says, breaking down.
Health Department officials
said that apart from pursuing this particular case, they are planning to
issue a clarification that the rules should be interpreted in favour of
the challenged person. They also intend to take the matter up with the
Railways, to ensure that ambiguity is avoided. “The aim is to ensure
that people with disabilities do not suffer because of varying
interpretations of the rules by doctors,” an official said.
Source : The Hindu , Chennai ; 23rd June 2013
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