LAHORE, Oct 14: The International White Cane Safety Day is being celebrated world over on Sunday (today) to mark the importance of the white cane as a mobility aid and a symbol of independence for the blind and those with impaired vision.

The day is observed to express solidarity with the blind and to create public awareness for solving the problems faced by them.

According to the available statistics, there are some 154,962 blind people in Punjab. The blind population is 8.48 per cent of the four categories of the disable — physically handicapped, mentally retarded, hearing impaired and the blind.

Of the blind population, 40,359 are school-going (5-19 years of age); 16,026 below five years of age and 98,577 are of about 19 years of age.

In order to celebrate the White Cane Safety Day, the Punjab Special Education department is also holding a function at the Government Degree College for Special Education on Sunday (today). The ceremony, to be participated in by blind students studying in different specialised institutions in the city, will be presided over by Punjab special education minister Qudsia Lodhi.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said it was national, moral and religious duty of people to provide opportunities to the blind so that they could get their basic rights. He said the day called for creating awareness among the public that the blind could also be productive and self-sufficient members of society, he added.

In his message, the chief minister said the White Cane was not meant only for the blind, but it also made the public conscious of their due role in making the blind people honourable citizens. He said it should be realised that lack of sight might not be lack of vision. Proper use of White Cane ensured independent movement for the blind, he added.

He said the Punjab government was determined to make all out efforts for education, training and rehabilitation of the disabled, specially blind children, and was spending substantial funds for the purpose. In the years to come, he said, strenuous efforts for this cause would be made.

Mr Elahi hoped that the visually-impaired people would continue their struggle for acquiring adequate knowledge and training so as to be able to lead an honourable life. He also appealed to the public to consider and treat these people as equal citizens and give them their due respect and honour.

A Punjab government spokesman has stated that the government had taken many revolutionary measures for education and betterment of blind persons.

He said the Punjab government had set up a computerised Braille printing press under the control of the special education department for the supply of books to blind students studying in government and private educational institutions free of cost. He said these Braille printers also had the facility of ink print, through which blind persons could be provided assistance in learning.

He said the present government had also raised the number of education and training institutions for the blind from 11 to 102. Currently, he said, some 3,000 blind students were studying at these centres. Earlier, only 458 students were studying in institutions for the blind.

The spokesman said the blind students were being provided free pick-and-drop facility, besides education without any charges. They were also being given a monthly stipend of Rs200, uniforms and Braille books, he added. The blind students living in hostels were also being provided residential facilities and food free of cost, he said.

The Punjab government, he said, had also set up low-vision assessment centres in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur, where modern education, training and recreational facilities were being made available to the blind students free of cost. The government had planned similar centres in Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sargodha during the current financial year, he added and said mobile teams were being sent to far-flung areas for the treatment and examination of low-vision persons.

The Punjab government has also fixed two per cent quota for the blind and handicapped students in all higher education institutions, besides their quota in jobs.

It is learnt that there are 225 blind teachers and workers in the special education department, who are drawing double monthly salary.

The government is also arranging special courses for blind teachers in the Government In-service Teachers Training College, Lahore.