78,000 issued disability certificates in HP

Nearly 78,000 out of the total 1.55 lakh disabled persons in Himachal Pradesh have been issued disability certificates, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD)Kamlesh Kumar Pandey said today.
Pandey, who concluded his two-day visit to the state and held talks with officials concerned and NGOs, told mediapersons that 1,700 disabled persons had been provided job under 3 per cent quota.
"The Union government has started the process of issuing Unique Disability ID (UDID) so that one ID is acceptable throughout the country and the disabled persons do not face any problem while travelling outside the state," he said, adding, the states should issue disability certificates to the disabled as it is the pre-requisite for obtaining UDID.

Pandey pointed out thatsurprise inspection to ascertain utilisation of funds given to NGOs was not being undertaken in the stateand urged the state government to appoint a full-time secretary for the disability department.
At present, additional charge has been given to a secretary who is also holding other portfolios.
"In order to ensure inclusive education for the disabled persons, a disability department needs to be started in Himachal Pradesh University as there is a shortage of special teachers for disabled," he said.

Since its inception, the CCPD office has received about 35,000 complaints till date, majority of them pertaining to central departments, he said.

"However, majority of the complaints have been resolved while about 1800 are under transaction," Pandey said.
"Under the skill development programme, about five lakh disabled persons would be imparted training by 2018 and 25 lakhs by 2025. Against the target of imparting skill training to 76,000, 44,000 persons with disability have been trained in the current year," he added.