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KARACHI Although prolonged delays involved in acquiring assistance from the Pakistan Baitul Maal have always been a source of much discontent for the able-bodied destitute, deserving physically disabled people suffer much more on this account.
While the Baitul Maal has special provisions for the disabled people, it does not deal with their cases on a priority basis.
In addition, there is no government institution in the province for the education, welfare and guidance of the physically disabled people and this basic responsibility has been entirely left to the private sector, Dawn has learnt.
Representatives of different NGOs told Dawn that they had many bitter experiences of interaction with the Baitul Maal.
Considering the hassles involved in dealing with a government department, it was not possible for a disabled person to acquire any sort of assistance independently from the Baitul Maal, they said.
The case of 70-year-old Essa Suleman, who has been sending applications for financial assistance to the Baitul Maal for four years through the Pakistan Disabled Foundation (PDF), an NGO working for welfare of the physically disabled people, is illustrative of this point. There has been no response to his applications yet.
'Once I got Rs7,000 from the Baitul Maal five years ago. The money was spent on essential needs and later, I applied again, and again. But there was no response,' said Mr Suleman.
Mr Suleman, who sells combs on the Preedy Street, lost sight in his both eyes in a factory accident when he was young. Consequently, he was fired from the job.
With eight children, some of them married, Essa requested the Baitul Maal for financial assistance, just to meet his day-to-day expenses.
'As you know it's difficult for the poor to run a home with children these days. So, whatever little I may get I intend to spend it on my children and grandchildren,' he told Dawn.
Giving an account of the problems he faced in getting his applications approved, Shakeela Yasmeen, vice chairperson of the PDF, said 'It takes months, at times years, to get an application approved and not all applications are accepted either. We do correspondence and send reminders on behalf of the disabled people. But such efforts require money, time and literacy — something that many disabled people do not have. Last year, we sent four applications for provision of hearing aids which are still pending,' she said.
Out of the 23 applications sent last year for financial assistance for rehabilitation, only 11 got approved. These disabled people got between Rs5,000 and Rs15,000 as financial support.
This year applications were sent in the beginning of the year. However, they were still pending, she said.
Being blind herself, Ms Yasmeen understands the needs of the disabled people, especially of those with impaired vision.
'The Baitul Maal's rehabilitation programme is of little use, since it does not offer the physically challenged people the equipment they need to become a productive part of society,' she said.
'The provision of white canes and wheelchairs is not enough. There are no textbooks available for the blind in Braille nor are there enough Braillers (machines used to write in Braille) available for the blind in private institutions. This is a costly equipment and not available in the market. Special kinds of hearing aids are also expensive and beyond the reach of the poor disabled people. We have been demanding that the government set up an equipment bank and provide these aids on subsidised rates,' she added.
According to Ms Yasmeen, there are a number of government institutions for the disabled people in Punjab, but there is none in Sindh.
Telling his story, Mohammad Hussain of the Pakistan Association of the Blind (PAB) said that 43 visually impaired persons from the platform of PAB had applied for a yearly Rs25,000 assistance from the Baitul Maal in April last year. But no response had been received as yet.
'The applications were not for a general scheme but for a specific scheme under which a family with two or more handicapped persons can apply for a yearly assistance. This shows the indifferent attitude of the officials concerned towards the disabled,' he said.
Another case of Baitul Maal inefficiency, he added, related to an announcement made by its managing director last year. At an event held in Islamabad, he publicly committed to giving 10,000 white canes to the blind associated with the PAB. After six months' correspondence, the association was told to send relevant documents of the persons wanting to get the white canes.
'Under normal procedures, too, a blind person is required to fill out a form, attach his or her national identity card, two pictures and a medical certificate to get a white cane from the Baitul Maal. This is like refusing the aid to the needy,' he commented.
A case of special attention
Another physically challenged person who failed to get any support from the Baitul Maal is Abdul Rasheed.
A resident of Dhani Bux Khaskheli Goth in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Rasheed met with a devastating accident in 2006 when he was doing his bachelors in business administration at the Federal Urdu University.
'My whole body got paralysed. I underwent a series of sessions with different physiotherapists for almost three years which helped restore movement in some parts of my body. Still, I can't move my left leg while the other leg is partially paralysed,' he told Dawn.
The accident cost Rasheed his business, health and education. His determination remained unimpaired, however.
Helped and encouraged by his wife, he gathered enough strength and courage to apply for admission to the BS programme of the food science and technology department of Karachi University.
'I don't want to be a burden on my family and society. With constant family support, I have been able to get in the rhythm of life again. But still there is something which pains me all the time,' he said.
Because of his partially paralysed limbs, Rasheed is unable to travel by bus while his financial limitations prevent him from hiring private transport. And, therefore, he has to take a lift every day.'It's so difficult waiting on the stop and requesting for a lift every day. It is against my self-respect and dignity, but I have no other choice. My colleagues drop me at the university gate when my classes are over. From there, I again take a lift back home,' he said.
In order to get out of this situation for ever, Rasheed wrote to the president of Pakistan, different government departments as well as NGOs last year to buy him an automatic car that is specially designed for the disabled people.
The letter from the President's Secretariat was sent back to the Sindh chief secretary from where it landed in the social welfare department for action under the rules and policy of the government.
'The social welfare department directed the Pakistan Baitul Maal to help me. But when I approached it, the officials first told me that no such letter had been received from the social welfare department. When I provided them a copy of the correspondence, I was told to apply for a wheelchair.
'I don't need a wheelchair. I need a car. How can I go to the university in a wheelchair? If I get a car, it would help me get some part-time job as well,' he said.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, the acting in-charge of the provincial Baitul Maal, told Dawn that the institution had no provision for a car and the application had been sent to the head office in Baitul Maal red tape is blocking Abdul Rasheed's request for a specially Islamabad. (Officials in Islamabad, however, denied that they had received any such application.)
About the problems being faced by the disabled in seeking assistance from the Baitul Maal, Mr Ahmed said that he had taken over the charge of the department only three months ago and officials in Islamabad would be in a better position to comment on the question.
When asked about the number of disabled persons who have benefited from the Baitul Maal over the past one year, he claimed that there was no separate scheme for the physically challenged people and, therefore, it was difficult to tell the exact number of the disabled who might have received help.
'The scheme for the provision of financial assistance for business has been closed for over a year. These days the main focus is on fulfilling the medical and educational needs of the poor. Besides, the institution provides financial assistance of Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 to the needy,' he said.
