A national review meeting on the persons with disabilities (PwD) act today revealed that only seven states had set up separate departments for implementing programes and schemes for the welfare of disabled persons.
Besides, 14 states had appointed independent commissioners to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities and act as a "watchdog" of the schemes under the Act.
Inaugurating the "15th National Review Meeting of the State Commissioners for Persons with Disabilities", Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot asked all states to establish separate departments so that programmes aimed at benefitting the disabled get proper focus.
Gehlot also urged them to implement the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act in letter and spirit. Rules for implementation of the recently passed act would be notified by the end of the month, he said.
The minister asked representatives of state governments to fill up job vacancies for the disabled in central, state government and public sector units (PSUs).
The central government has a backlog of around 4,000 vacancies while states have around 3,000.
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