Chennai: In Tamil Nadu, the RIGHTS scheme, with an outlay of Rs. 1,773 crore, was launched in 2022 under the previous DMK government to improve and provide various services, including certificates for persons with disabilities and welfare assistance.
Accordingly, social rehabilitation workers must go door to door, conduct surveys, create comprehensive data on persons with disabilities, and connect them with services. In this context, on October 8, 2024, the Highways Department issued a government order.
In it, permission was granted to transfer the Rs. 350 crore saved in the rights project to the Highways Department. This matter has now come to light and has become a topic of discussion on social media. Organizations for the welfare of persons with disabilities have strongly opposed this action by the Tamil Nadu government.
Regarding this, C. Govindakrishnan, founder of the Nethrodhaya organization, in a letter written to the Chief Minister last month, said, “Under the rights scheme, welfare programs should reach persons with disabilities at the village and block level itself, without making them run from office to office. But no change has taken place on the ground. While 878 voluntary organizations are registered under this department, only 14 organizations have been given the social service provider role. There is no transparency in this.”
According to the RTI reply dated last September 3, so far Rs. 299 crore has been spent only on rights project contract workers employed at the state commissionerate and district level. A thorough investigation should be conducted in this regard. As of June 17, the social registry survey has been conducted in 1.41 crore households out of 2.28 crore families.
As of August 20, out of the 10,76,926 unique identity cards issued to all categories of persons with disabilities, cards have been issued to only 61,312 people from 14 categories. Therefore, the government should discontinue this scheme, which provides no benefit, and introduce new schemes,” it has been said.