Diffabled allege malpractice in device distribution

The State General Secretary of the Federation S Raja, said that usually the assistive devices such as callipers, artificial limbs for the persons living with disabilities, would be procured from a company across the state but there were several malpractices in the manufacturing process in the district.  

In 2013-14, officials in the District Differently-abled Welfare Department indulged in malpractices in procuring the assistive devices. Instead of buying them from the company, a section of officials were making artificial limbs in their old office at Villapuram in Madurai. 

With the help of the members from the Satta Panchayat Iyakkam the Federation had obtained the video evidence of the officials from the District Differently Abled Welfare Department making artificial limbs inside their old office at Villapuram by violating the rules, said Raja, who is also the member of the Madurai District Differently Abled Coordination Committee. 

He also said that the Madurai District Differently Abled Coordination Committee, which is headed by the Collector, meets once in six months and at the meeting conducted on June 30, 2016, he submitted a representation regarding this issue along with the video evidence to the Collector who directed the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) to conduct an investigation into the issue.  

He said that through an RTI they had obtained the report of the RDO which was submitted to the Collector in November 2016. The detailed report submitted by the RDO says that all the assistive devices that were procured were not distributed to the persons who had registered and with whom the measurements were taken but to people who have not registered. 

The report also states that it was wrong on the part of officials to make the assistive equipment at the office and had recommended action on the officials. The Collector should consider the report and take action on corrupt officials, demanded Raja.