Disabled, elderly department works with only 28 per cent staff

BENGALURU: Over 72% of posts in the Department of Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens across the state are lying vacant, and only 28% of the staff are implementing a number of schemes and are addressing problems related to the disabled and elderly.

According to information available from the department, of the 464 sanctioned posts, 334 are vacant, which translates to over 72% vacancies.  

“If we have to get some work done, we have to visit the department offices at least four to five times. Officials keep asking us to come back at a later date,” said Varadaraju, a specially-abled man. According to the 2011 census, the state has 13,24,205 disabled and 51,32,005 senior citizens.

Department Director Dr Siddaraju said, “In every department, there is a shortage of staff. We are managing with whatever resource we have now.” But he refused to answer any further queries. The department is implementing a number of state and central government schemes for education, rehabilitation, training and employment of the differently abled. For senior citizens, there are day care centres, helplines and monthly pension and Sandhya Suraksha schemes.

The employees are now struggling to implement all these schemes. A department employee, Umesh (name changed), said, “There are hundreds of schemes for the disabled and senior citizens. How do you expect us to work on all these schemes with no staff? A stack of files is always lying on the table and there is a lot of pressure on us.” The disabled and elderly make up a considerable portion of the population in the state. The government should appoint enough staff if these schemes have to be implemented effectively, said activists.