Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 15: Physically challenged persons protested here at Pratap Park, Lal Chowk, today.
They were demanding enhancement in monthly pension and reservation for children of handicapped in professional colleges.
Scores of physically challenged men and women gathered at Pratap Park at 11 am. They were chanting slogans like “We are not begging, we are demanding our rights”.
President of Jammu and Kashmir Handicapped Association, Abdul Rashid Bhat said there are lakhs of handicapped people in the State and majority of them are those who were rendered handicapped during insurgency. He said all successive Governments have ignored the rights of physically challenged people and they were silently suffering and facing many problems as nobody listened to them.
The protestors demanded three percent reservation in promotions, health cover and free medical treatment in Government and private nursing homes, enhancement in monthly pension from Rs 1000 to Rs 4000 and reservation for their children in professional colleges in line with Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
They also demanded 50 percent concession in electric and water fee and setting up of full time Disability Commissioner to look after the grievances of the physically challenged.
The protestors later tried to move to Civil Secretariat to present memorandum of demands to Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. However, police prevented them from going beyond Maulana Azad Road and detained several protestors at Kothi Bagh Police Station, who were later released.
The protestors threatened to stage indefinite hunger strike on May 25 to press for their demands.
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