Health minister welcomed by protests at state-level function
Minister for health and family welfare Surjit Kumar Jyani faced protests by different organisations, when he visited the city to attend a state-level function to mark World Disability Day at Braille Bhawan, Jamalpur, on Thursday.
Minister for health and family welfare Surjit Kumar Jyani faced protests by different organisations, when he visited the city to attend a state-level function to mark World Disability Day at Braille Bhawan, Jamalpur, on Thursday.
Members of organisations, including Bharat Netraheen Sewak Samaj and Anganwari Mulazim Union, Ludhiana, raised slogans against the government for not fulfilling their demands. The protesters also disrupted minister’s speech at the function.
Bharat Netraheen Sewak Samaj members said that vacancies for visually-impaired people were not fulfilled by the government. Samaj president Devinder Singh Sangowal said, “The government has failed to help the visually impaired and is observing World Disability Day with pomp and show.”
Sangowal said, “Posts for visually-impaired teachers were published sometime ago, but were never filled. Disabled people, whose contracts in government jobs have expired, have not been renewed by the government.”
Anganwari Mulazim Union finance secretary Subhash Rani said, “The minister during a meeting held in September promised that time period for promotion of a helper would be decreased from 10 years to five years, but nothing has been done in this regard so far.”
She alleged that 68 days have passed since the meeting and Jyani has not been able to take any action in this regard.
Union members also stated that the minister during the meeting had promised to increase allowance of workers, and organise a meeting with chief minister, but nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Jyani urged all unions to work hard for the issues related to disabled people.
“Some union leaders just cause nuisance during functions because they play petty politics over serious issues,” he said.
He invited all union members to meet him in case they had some issues. He said holding protests would not solve any issue. “Instead, they should come and have a proper meeting with me if they really want their issues to be resolved,” Jyani said.