Disability certificate to be available online in Ganjam

From next month, people with disabilities will not have to make rounds of the chief district medical office (CDMO) or wait in queues to apply for and get disability certificate in Odisha's Ganjam.
The district health administration has decided to process the certificate online.
"People can now upload the required documents and apply for the certificate online. After verification of the documents, we will invite the applicant to appear before the disability committee. If found eligible, he/she will get the certificate online," said CDMO, Ganjam, Mrutunjay Mishra.
The process is scheduled to start from December two, he said adding "though there is no technical staff dedicated exclusively to the programme, we have trained some computer savvy persons to process the applications".

At present, applicants have to visit the CDMO's office with all necessary documents to appear before the committee. After scrutiny, eligible applicants get the disability certificate at a single window. The district has about one lakh persons with disabilities, sources said.
The Ganjam District Orthopedically Handicapped Welfare Association is not sure whether the move will make things easier for the disabled.

"This process is more expensive than the manual one," said K Ananda Rao, secretary of the association.
He said one either needs a computer or needs to go to a cyber cafe and pay to make the online application and to later get the certificate.

Moreover, applicants will have to travel to Berhampur to appear before the disability committee, he said.
"The process might not work smoothly as there are no technical officials at the CDMO's office", he said.