http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150213/jsp/frontpage/story_3145.jsp Guwahati, Feb. 12: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today asked the Centre not to "act like a master", minutes after the Union minister of social justice and empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot, asked the northeastern states to speed up submission of pending utilisation certificates of funds that his ministry had released.
"The northeastern states have many problems such as floods or conflicts and in some places, we can work for six months a year only. How can you expect all the utilisation certificates with so many problems? Sitting in Delhi, you cannot understand the problems of the region," said Gogoi, as soon as Gehlot, sitting on his left, said many states of the region were yet to submit the utilisation certificates, despite being asked to do so in a three-day meeting in New Delhi in August last year. "You have to see the ground realities and deal with the problems accordingly. Some districts in my state are still troubled and the problems in other states of the region are more serious," Gogoi said. Gehlot and the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Krishan Pal Gurjar, convened a meeting of social welfare ministers of the northeastern states here today. The two ministers took stock of the schemes meant for persons with disabilities, the aged, backward classes and those meant to control drug abuse, among others. Admitting that persons with disabilities were not given much importance by the government, Gogoi said it was necessary to relax the norms for considering a person differently-abled. "Those with 40 per cent disabilities are now considered for schemes meant for the disabled but we want that it should be reduced to 25 to 30 per cent. We have schools for the differently-abled but we need colleges. The universities should also start courses for them. Unless we prepare manpower to handle the issues concerning the disabled, it is difficult to address their issues," Gogoi said. Meghalaya social welfare minister Deborah C. Marak echoed Gogoi's tough stand regarding the utilisation certificates. She demanded that the same policy regarding utilisation certificates should not be applied to all states. "There is need of a separate policy for the northeastern states," she added. The two ministers, who spoke in Hindi, were also taken aback when Marak said she did not understand Hindi. "You talked of so many things today but I don't understand," she said. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference, Gehlot said the ministry would draw an action plan to address the problems and concerns raised by the northeastern states. "I have sanctioned Rs 5 crore to expand the composite regional centre in Guwahati, equipment and course materials needed for training purposes. Besides, this year we have decided to spend Rs 6 lakh each for 100 hearing impaired children below six years in the country in providing cochlear implants," he said. The ministry distributed assistance materials like tricycle and ramps among 700 persons with disabilities here today. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in 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 Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
