Centre releases funds to J&K for making govt buildings disabled-friendly

Government of India has released funds to remove ‘architectural barriers’ in the government buildings so as to make them disabled-friendly. 

In the first phase, 11 government buildings will go for an overhauling to become accessible to the specially- abled people. These buildings are housing: civil secretariat Srinagar, directorate of social welfare, district social welfare office Srinagar, assembly complex, Srinagar municipal corporation, police headquarters, police control room, old secretariat, J&K state board of school education, Srinagar development authority and directorate of industries.

   

Under the ‘Accessible India Campaign’ (AIC), the ministry of social justice and empowerment, government of India has released Rs 5.09 crore grant-in aid, as first installment to government of Jammu and Kashmir for creation of “barrier-free environment” in the eleven government run buildings for the benefit of persons with disabilities. 

“The state government had submitted a DPR for Rs 21.46 crore for creation of barrier free environment in government buildings,” said a official at social welfare department.

He said against the approved project cost of Rs 21.46 crore, the ministry of social justice and empowerment, government of India in the first phase earmarked an allocation of Rs 10.74 crore, out of which Rs 5.09 crore were released on 31 December last year,” the official said.

An official letter from the government of India, reads, “The state government shall submit the final utilization certificate for the entire grant along with a project completion report within three months after completion of the work/project as stipulated in the proposal.”

“Unutilized money, if any, is to be refunded to the ministry. In case the work/project is not completed within the stipulated timeframe and further time is sought to complete the same, the organisation concerned has to intimate the ministry and also explain the reason for the delay. If the project is not completed within the timeframe/extended timeframe, the organisation concerned has to refund the grant forthwith.” 

To execute the work at its earliest, social welfare department has written a letter to chief engineer, road and buildings (R&B) department, Kashmir to take up the execution work.

As reported by Greater Kashmir, of the 25 buildings identified in J&K by the AIC, a government of India project to identify buildings that are disabled unfriendly, the civil secretariat Jammu and Kashmir and old secretariat Srinagar top the list of most disabled unfriendly buildings.

The government of India (GoI) formulated AIC with a vision to build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of persons with disability so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives.

As per the 2011 census, J&K has over 3.60 lakh people, nearly three percent of its population, with one or other disability. The breakup shows that 2.8 lakh people in the state are visually impaired, 0.38 lakh physically challenged, 0.17 lakh have speech disability and 0.13 lakh people have other impairments.

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