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Visually impaired persons and the members of the Blind Association here staged a protest in front of the secretariat, alleging that the state government has failed to fill the backlog of posts reserved for them in various departments for several years.
The association said on Wednesday that it has been agitating for nearly two years over the issue. The protests were held on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, observed worldwide on December 3. They claimed that despite global celebrations of disability rights, the "condition of visually impaired persons in Himachal Pradesh continues to remain ignored". "Our main demand is to fill the backlog of posts which have been pending since 1995. Most of the backlog is in Class-IV recruitment, and the government is not filling it," Shobhu Ram, President, Persons with Visually Impaired association, told ANI. "Government programmes are being held at the district level to observe the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. But the very people who should have been included are forced to sit on the roads and protest", he added. "We are observing this day as a Black Day across Himachal Pradesh because the government is not listening to disabled persons. We have held several rounds of protests, but neither officials nor ministers have called a meeting with us for a long time," Shobhu Ram told ANI. "The Chief Minister says he helps the poor. I want to ask him, the people protesting outside the secretariat today, are they sponsored by any corporate house or Ambani-Adani? They are poor too. Why does he not understand their problem?" he raised questions. "The number of fully blind persons in the state is very small, hardly even 100 to 150, yet our genuine issues are ignored. Our demands include filling the backlog of posts, increasing our pension, which has not been revised for 5-6 years, restoring the social security and job facilities for disabled persons, and restarting the Sahara pension, which has been stopped," he said. The protesters vowed to continue their agitation until the state government holds a meeting with them and takes concrete steps to address their grievances. (ANI)
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