PANJIM: Disability Rights Association of Goa has demanded person with disability be appointed in each panchayat body, in line with the Central govt directives. DRAG said that a proposal was moved to the Central Govt to nominate persons with disability to the panchayats by the National Disability Network and was accepted hence State govt should nominate a person with disability to each panchayat.
The panchayats give licenses for construction but public buildings are not accessible to disabled. Among other issues, many govt schemes are not available to the disabled, said DRAG President Avelino D’Sa on Friday.
DRAG also raised an alarm about the increasing rate of road accidents and people getting disabled for life. Avelino said govt should conduct an inquiry into causes of road accidents so that we can work toward prevention of road accidents. “Let us find out the cause of the accidents and work on prevention, otherwise more will get maimed,” he said.
The association also highlighted harassment of a person with disability by Electricity Department of Cuncolim. Avelino said that a High Tension line was passing over the private properties of three or four houses in Quepem. Here the worker of a disabled person lost his hands after he came in contact with a high tension wire. Instead of shifting the High Tension lines, the Electricity Department of Cuncolim is harassing the disabled person and asking him to get the inspection done and to file an application to shift the lines. Avelino called on the Chief Electrical Engineer to act against the assistant engineer of Cuncolim.
