SHANGLA: The differently-abled persons here have demanded of the government to establish a paraplegic centre in the district for their rehabilitation.

Fawad Ali, 19, who suffers from a spinal cord injury (SCI), complained that there was no paraplegic centre for their rehabilitation in district despite the fact that there was a large number of differently-abled persons in the district, who mostly sustained critical injuries in coal mine incidents.

A majority of Shangla people work in coal mines across Pakistan to earn a living, but they often face deadly accidents inside mines due to a lack of protective gear.

According to the social welfare department, 780 people with disabilities are registered with it, including over 200 suffering from SCI, and are confined to wheelchairs or beds.

Also seek their registration with BISP

Fawad Ali, who is a resident of Shahtoot area of Alpuri, suffered SCI in a mining accident in Hyderabad in November 2022. Since then, he has been confined to a wheelchair.

Talking to Dawn, he complained that despite several requests neither the private nor the government departments in Shangla established wheelchair ramps in front of their offices to facilitate them.

Hussain Ali, a resident of Mian Kallay area of Alpuri, who also suffers from SCI, works for the welfare of people with disabilities through his social media channel.

He recalled that he collected 56 applications for postal ballots and submitted them to the returning officer, but they received only 18 postal ballots during the Feb 8 elections. He added the post office staffers were reluctant to hand over ballots to their relatives, stating that voter must collect the ballot in person.

He questioned how a person with spinal cord injury could collect ballot from the post office.

Iqbal Hussain, a resident of Chawga area of Puran tehsil, who also has spinal cord injury, said despite his applications to the deputy commissioner he was not registered with the Benazir Income Support Programme to get the much-needed financial help. He alleged undeserving people were registered with BISP.

Hussain Ali, who represents the group of people suffering from SCI, said the government should devise specific policies to protect their rights so they could live with honour.

Shangla additional deputy commissioner Adnan Khatak said the government was striving to facilitate the differently-abled persons to lead a respectful life.

Mr Khattak, who was the assistant district returning officer in the last general election, said they received over 6,000 applications for postal ballot papers, but the election commission provided only 3,000 postal ballots for the NA seat.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2024