Wheelchairs from government not up to the mark: Diffabled

However, his joy was short-lived when the wheelchair he received did not meet his expectations. “We were promised a wheelchair worth around Rs 20,000 and were confident that it would be long-lasting and would benefit us in the years to come. However, after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami distributed the wheelchairs to us, we are a disappointed lot,” said Mani.

Stating that the footboard on his wheelchair gave way, after barely two months of use, he said, “Though the project is a good initiative taken up by the government, it has been very poorly implemented. It is evident that hardly any planning has gone into the project, as all that the government focused on was to distribute the wheelchairs without putting in any thought of whether it was actually helping us.” Irked by the lack of interest shown by the government, Gnana Bharathi, president of the Spinal Injured Persons Association (SIPA), had put forth a demand to the expert committee for better quality wheelchairs.

However, there has been no response, he said. Post the distribution, he also approached the Commissioner for the Welfare of Differently abled persons, who stated that he could not do anything. “It is disheartening to see that they spent less than Rs 10,000 on each wheelchair. The Velcro and the grooves in the wheels were of very poor quality. Also, they did not provide the benefiters of the wheelchairs with any form of guarantee, despite our repeated requests,” said Bharathi.

While Mani had complained of the footboard giving way, there were others like Saravanan Kumar is left with a wheelchair with broken armrests and a backrest that dangles.

“With such poor quality wheelchairs, we do not even feel like stepping outdoors, due to a fear of falling,” said another diffabled person.

An official of the Differently-abled Welfare Commissionerate, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “SIPA president Gnana Bharathi was also a part of the committee that decided on the features of the wheelchairs specially designed for persons with spinal cord injuries. The government went ahead with the same only after the decisions were made by the committee.

Complaints of the same, if any, must be taken to the Commissioner.” Commissioner for the Welfare of Differently-abled persons Arun Roy could not be reached when DTNext tried contacting him.