Concerned over the severe shortfall of professionals working in the disability sector, a parliamentary panel has urged the Finance Ministry to revise the ceiling on non-Plan expenditure and make available more funds so that national institutes are able to cater to the needs of this vulnerable group. There are seven national institutes working in the field of disability in Dehradun, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cuttack, Secunderabad, Chennai and Delhi, along with regional offshoots.

Based on the requirement projected by the national institutes, an additional requirement of about Rs 30 crore has been estimated, said the action taken report on “Review of the Functioning of National Institutes Working in the Field of Disability” by the Standing Committee Social Justice and Empowerment, headed by Ramesh Bais.

In its report, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the panel urged the Ministry to “vigorously” pursue the matter with the Finance Ministry so that funds shortfall in the non-Plan head of the national institutes may be met with required allocation in the next financial year so that remunerative pay packages can be given to people working in the disability sector.

It cited the case of the Dehradun-based National Institute of the Visually Handicapped, which was facing a severe crunch of manpower and capital resources. The sanctioned Group A posts are only 10 and the institute is being run by retired officers. The panel noted that overall, 52 Group A posts, 36 Group B posts, 94 Group C posts and 23 Group D posts were lying vacant in national institutes.

As per Census 2011, the number of persons with disabilities in the country has been estimated at 2.68 crore, which is 2.22 per cent of the population. Of this, 69 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas and 31 per cent in the urban areas.

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