To The Chairman,
Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Government of India, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi--110001 Subject: Extension of Rail Concession For The Physically Handicapped Including The Blind In Shatabdi and Rajdhani Trains. Sir / Madam I am Rajesh Asudani, a visually challenged person working in The Reserve Bank of India as assistant General Manager, at Nagpur in Maharashtra. I write to invite your kind attention to your Ministry's Circular No. 19 of 2011 No. TCII/2196/11/Policy Dated 3.5.2011, from Financial Commissioner, Railway Board. 2. The aforesaid Circular extends concession in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains to orthopaedically handicapped and paraplegic persons on the basis of the announcement made by the then Minister of Railways in her Budget Speech on 25th February, 2011. However, I submit that extending these concessions to the above two categories of handicapped persons only, is contrary to the spirit of the Hon'ble Minister's announcement, the widely accepted principle of equality and justice for all as also the time-tested Railway policy of allowing concessions to the handicapped including the blind. I make this submission for the following reasons: 2.1. The relevant announcement made by the Hon'ble Minister in the said Budget Speech, (Paragraph 86) reads as follows: "Concessions 86. At present physically handicapped persons are not entitled for concessions on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. It is proposed to extend the concession facility to them in these trains also." 2.2. Handicapped persons, as you would be aware, are broadly placed into 2 categories: the physically handicapped and the mentally retarded. 2.3. The physically handicapped cover a wide spectrum including the blind, the deaf etc. and not just the orthopaedically handicapped. 2.4. It is in line with this well-accepted policy that Indian Railways have been granting, beginning from the 50's, various rail concessions to the blind. 2.5. There is, therefore, no reason why the blind are now sought to be denied the facility of grant of concession in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains, while allowing the same to just two types of handicapped persons. 2.5. Surely, it cannot be the intention of the Ministry of Railways to favour one type of the handicapped over the other, especially, since all earlier rail concessions have been made applicable to the blind. 2.6. To me, it seems that the above Circular is just the result of some oversight on the part of some processing official and not the outcome of any careful or objective deliberation, since the blind too need as much help as the two types under reference. 2.7. Moreover, the above Circular allows this concession up to the extent of 25% only in just AC Three-Tier and Chair Car. That, too, is against the present practice, wherein 75% concession is allowed in lower classes and 50% in upper classes. In view of the foregoing, I write to request you to kindly review the contents of the aforesaid Circular and extend concessions to the blind also in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains, keeping the quantum of concessions as 75% and 50% in lower and upper classes respectively. Soliciting an early and favourable intervention in the matter and thanking you in anticipation, Yours Truly, G. Vamshi 136, SBI colony, RC road, TIRUPATI 517501 Andhra Pradesh Mobile: +91 9949349497 Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please notify us by return e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Reserve Bank of India accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
