Development and Welfare Association of the Blind, A P. (Reg. No. Mc 4460 / 1996)
Affiliated to All India Confederation of the Blind ,New Delhi SURDAS BHAVAN, DEENDAYAL NAGAR, GOLLAGUDA, NALGONDA, (A.p), pin- 508001 Phone: 08682 227920, Telefax: 08682 229654, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www. helpvisually challenged.org ________________________________________________________________________ Ref: DWAB/45/2011 Dated: 08.06.2011 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, With reference to the subject cited above on behalf of the development and welfare association of the blind We 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, we 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. We 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 us, 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, we 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, k.srinivas. Secretary Email: [email protected] 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
