KARACHI, July 3: Special children in Lyari Town are still facing transport problems to reach the rehabilitation centre despite a request made by a local NGO some time back to the city government to provide the centre with a new van , as the old one had been completely damaged and become irreparable.

But the city government turned down the proposal, and instead sanctioned an amount of Rs100,000 for getting the old vehicle repaired.

The Al-Mehran Lyarian Educational Society protested over this attitude of the city government, and urged the Sindh government's intervention into the matter.

The Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped Children (RCHC) is a training centre, set up in Lyari Town in 1997, providing formal education as well as skill development activities to the disabled children of Lyari Town in order to make them useful citizens of society.

Due to non-availability of pick-and-drop facility, more than 50 handicapped children, including the deaf and the dumb, the blind and physically handicapped children, were unable to attend their classes.

According to a representative of the NGO, the official vehicle which was allocated to the centre by the government was totally damaged and irreparable.

It also provides pick-and-drop facility to these children, lunch, and free books and uniform to the children, on a yearly basis.

The centre also has a tailoring workshop, woodwork, and a carpet weaving shop.

The RCHC scheme, Lyari, was approved in 1985-86 by the Sindh government, but it was formally launched in 1997 after getting a suitable plot.

Representatives of NGOs have urged the government to take up the issue seriously, and solve the transport problem immediately by providing a new vehicle to the centre.