Nagaland's infrastructure for differently-abled 'deficient'; implementation of disability schemes in North East 'very poor'

Kohima: Nagaland has been found to be “deficient” on the creation of infrastructure for differently-abled persons with less than 7,000 disability certificates issued to such persons and lack of a separate department to look after their interests, a top official has said. [caption id=“attachment_4182729” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] Of the 29,631 disabled persons in Nagaland, the state government has issued differently certificates to around 6,592 persons with disabilities (PwDs), Kamlesh Kumar, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD), under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, told reporters in Kohima on Monday. Pointing out that Nagaland was found to be wanting in providing infrastructure for the welfare of the differently-abled, he said, the pension of the differently-abled persons in the state was meagre and there was a need for the creation of a separate department to look into the interests of the differently-abled. Pandey also said that the implementation of disability schemes in the North East region has been “very poor” due to the lack of special training institutions. The Central government, he said, is keen to support the region in improving the conditions of differently-abled. Nagaland State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Atha Vizol said Nagaland Cabinet on 27 June had taken up the issue of the implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 A meeting will be held on 18 July as part of the final process of releasing the PwD rules in the state, Vizol said. The CCPD said that after the passage of the Act, the Supreme Court had directed all the states to implement the Act within six months. Till now, only seven states have implemented the Act, while several states are in the process of doing so, he said