Job quota for people with disabilities increased to 5%

CM vows to create more employment opportunities to the differently-abled

KARACHI: The quota for people with disabilities in government jobs has been increased from 2% to 5% and it will be implemented in letter and spirit, declared Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah on Saturday.

He was speaking to a 35-member delegation of the Disabled Person Welfare Organisation at CM House.

The meeting took place after people with disabilities had gathered outside CM House to commemorate United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities. They remarked that every year on December 3, they gather outside CM House but have never been invited into the house before.

Today, we brought flowers with the hope of presenting them to the young and dynamic CM, they said, adding that after many years they have been given this opportunity.

The CM apologised for not organising any event or programme for the differently abled people. "I will support you by inducting you in government departments as per your quota," he assured them.

He issued directives to all the provincial departments to implement the quota for people with disabilities and recruit new staff. The CM remarked that Pakistan Peoples Party had passed a resolution in the Sindh Assembly in 2005 to urge the Sindh Building Control Authority to include construction of ramps for wheelchairs in buildings but it has yet to be implemented. He directed the chief secretary to ensure that in the future no layout plan of any building is approved until it includes a separate space for a ramp.

He also directed the sports minister to organise sporting events for people with disabilities. Moreover, he ordered an inquiry into the suspension of differently abled employees of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. "I will provide you more employment opportunities and establish a sports facility for you," he assured the delegation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2016.