None of the fully disabled in Narayan municipality get allowance

DAILKEH, Sept 23 : It´s been five years since the government announced social security allowance to the physically challenged, but none of the fully disabled residents of Narayan municipality have received a penny yet.



Forget about those who are not registered with the state, 45 residents of this tiny town in Dailekh, who hold ´A´ class identity cards, are also bereft of the social security allowance.

The District Development Committee admits that of the 136 completely disabled persons in the district, only 23 have been getting the social security allowance on a regular basis.

This play of apathy has compelled the needy to shoulder the extra burden of the helplessness. [break]



Ganesh Shrestha of Narayan Municipality-5 is bedridden for a decade now and he needs people to feed him and take him to the toilet.

“Had the government distributed the allowance, I could have led a more dignified life,” says Shrestha.



Out there in the countryside, the plights of the physically challenged as well as their kin are as real, and as tragic - if not more.

Take a trip around Nanap VDC and you know why.



Kalpana Thapa of ward number 1, Hritik Thapa of ward number 2, Kabita Thapa and Mayadevi Regmi of ward number 6, and the list goes on.

All of them possess the red identity cards issued by the state - and hardly anything else.



Yes, the allowance pledged by the government is not that much: it´s just Rs 1,000 a month to the red card holders. But it does make a difference to the needy.

A social activist, Ratna Sahi, squarely blames the civil servants for the delay in providing the allowance to the completely disabled ones.



“The list containing names of those who qualify for the allowance never reaches the District Development Committee Office on time,” says he. “There will be no progress in the distribution of the allowance until the government employees stopped being apathetic and lethargic.”

Local Development Officer Bishwa Prasad Acharya agrees.



“Despite our repeated enquiries, Narayan municipality is yet to sent us the list of locals who deserves the allowance,” says Acharya.

Back in 2008, the government had categorized the disabled and issued color-coded I-cards accordingly.

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