Grievances: PAB urges CM to take out time for a meeting

Says govt needs to take concrete steps for welfare of people with visual impairment.

PESHAWAR: The provincial chapter of the Pakistan Association of the Blind (PAB) has condemned police violence against protesters with visual impairments in Lahore last week and asked the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government to take steps for the welfare of people with blindness living in K-P.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, PAB K-P Finance Secretary Syed Afzal said the association has been waiting for the past 18 months to meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to apprise him of issues people with visual impariments are facing.



“So far we have not received a positive reply.” He urged the CM to give them time for a meeting or a Lahore-like situation could arise in Peshawar.

According to Fazal, although a lot is being said in K-P about the welfare of people with blindness, no practical step is being taken. “They are not getting jobs and the 2% quota set aside in government offices is also not being followed in letter and spirit,” said Afzal.

He further said the job quota for such people has been increased to 3% in Punjab, while in Afghanistan they get a monthly allowance of roughly Rs10,000, but K-P’s social welfare department only doles out Rs2,000-Rs4,000 per year which can only be obtained after a complicated procedure.

The PAB finance secretary added the social welfare department has not advertised vacant seats for people with blindness for the past
few years.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.