RAHIM YAR KHAN: Over 12,000 registered special persons have been deprived of funds worth Rs3.6 million especially allocated to them, and many claim they are on the verge of starvation due to during the lockdown.

There are 198,000 people with special needs among the 4.8m people of the district, according to the Sunshine Welfare Organisation and a source in the social welfare department. But of them, 12,300 special persons are registered with the department, including 2,200 visually impaired, 3,500 hearing impaired, 1,100 mentally challenged and 5,500 physically challenged.

Bilal Ahmed, a graduate and resident of Mujahid Colony in Sadiqabad, told this correspondent that he was disabled from both legs and resided in a rented house with nine family members. He had applied for job several times, but to no avail, while his family was finding it difficult to manage daily meals, he added.

Another physically disabled person, Adnan Ahmed, a resident of Hafiz Colony, said that his mother was a kidney patient and he drove a rickshaw to earn for his family of eight. But due to the lockdown and a ban on local transport, he could not take out his rickshaw. His family was on the verge of starvation for three weeks and he could not even purchase medicines for his mother, he lamented.

Social welfare dept source says Rs2.6m lying in account since 2019

Arsalan Arshad of Khanpur, Muhammad Shahid of Khanbela in Liaquatpur tehsil and Qazi Abid of Abbasia Town said they had visited the district welfare department several times to submit applications seeking financial help during the lockdown, but it was closed because the officials were working from home.

Aamir Naeem Mughal, who runs Sunshine Welfare Organisation, has registered 3,000 special persons during the last four years. He complained that there were no proper arrangements for getting a disability certificate made at the social welfare office. Last year, each special person was charged Rs200 for the application seeking financial support, he alleged. He suggested that a new committee under the deputy commissioner (DC) be formed to address these issues.

Sources in the local social welfare department said Rs2.6m was lying in the official account since 2019. This amount was collected from the corporate sector and later transferred to all district offices by the Punjab social welfare director general’s (DG) office. It was then distributed among the special persons after approval from the District Rehabilitation and Training Committee (DRTC).

But a DRTC member, requesting anonymity, told this correspondent that in the last three meetings, the former DC, also the chairman of the committee, expressed displeasure with Social Welfare Deputy Director Safdar Warraich for allegedly not managing proper data of registered special persons in the district due to which not a single rupee was distributed among the needy. The member further said the social welfare DG had sought three explanations from the deputy director in this regard.

Mr Warraich told Dawn he could not provide details of the registered special persons as there was no updated record. But, he said, if 12,000 people had been registered in the district since 1989, half of them would have died now. Moreover, there were Rs20m lying in the account of district Baitul Maal, which is attached with the social welfare department, he added.

According to Baitul Maal Ordinance 1989, 10 per cent of this amount was fixed for special persons.

District Baitul Maal Committee Vice Chairman Nauman Saghir told Dawn that there were 6,000 special persons registered only in Rahim Yar Khan tehsil. He said Rs10mof the Rs20m in their account had been returned to the Punjab government at the beginning of 2020. Out of the remaining, Rs1m based on the 10pc quota would be disbursed next month.

He further said that 180 applications for financial aid had been received till now, but when asked how the deserving persons will know they had to submit applications for the purpose if they were not registered, he could not come up with an answer.

Provincial Council For Rehabilitation of Disable Persons Director Ashraf Janjua said that this amount had been distributed among the needy special persons in many districts of Punjab after verification in the DRTC meetings. But, he said, was surprised that in Rahim Yar Khan it was still lying in the account since last year.

Social Welfare Secretary Zahid Salim Gondal told Dawn that he was unaware of the issue. But he said he had directed the social welfare Bahawalpur director and the DC to resolve the matter. The director had ensured him that the amount would be disbursed among the special persons within eight to10 days, and the DC had started working on it.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2020