Differently Abled and Senior Citizens Assistance Corporation

Profile

The year 1981 was declared as the International Year of the Disabled. It was considered that there was a need to have separate organisational arrangements to look after the welfare of handicapped. Accordingly, in April, 1981, Government of Andhra Pradesh established a Corporation for the Welfare of Handicapped vide G.O.Ms. No. 35, Dt. 23-03-1981 of Social Welfare Department . The Corporation was named as Andhra Pradesh Handicapped Persons Welfare Cooperative Finance Corporation. Subsequently in 1984 the name was changed as Andhra Pradesh Vikalangula Cooperative Corporation vide G.O.Rt.No. 456, Dt. 4-07-1984 of Social Welfare Department now the Corporation Name is again changed as Andhra Pradesh Differently Abled and Senior Citizens Assistance Corporation. In the districts the Joint Collector is the Ex-Officio Executive Director and the Assistant Director, Welfare of Differently Abled & Sr. Citizens is the Ex-Officio District Manager for this Corporation. The main objective of the Corporation is to provide Aids & appliances to the differently abled persons besides providing financial support for their livelihood schemes.

Government of Andhra Pradesh setup a separate Directorate for the Welfare of Handicapped in February 1983 vide G.O.Ms. No. 3, Social Welfare (G-I) Dept, Dt. 12-01-1983. This Directorate looks after programmes like sanction of scholarships , establishment and maintenance of homes, hostels and residential schools, sanction of Grant-in-Aid to institutions, sanction of Subsidy to Handicapped willing to take-up self employment , sanction of marriage incentive awards etc.. In our District i.e. there is a District Office headed by the Assistant Director to implement the schemes and programmes meant for the persons with disabilities at District Level. In Vizianagaram District the District Office was formed during the year 1986. The name of the Department was changed as “Department for the Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens”. The name of the Department has also changed as “Department for Welfare of Differently Abled & Sr. Citizens”. The Department is also implementing National Policy on older persons in Vizianagaram to help older persons to live with dignity and peace and ensure that the older persons are not unprotected and marginalized. . The main functions of the policy are financial security, health care and nutrition, shelter, protection of life and property, transportation, barrier free environment.

The main functions of the Department is Educational, Welfare, Development, Social Security, Maintenance of Hostels/Homes and Residential Schools, Incentives and Technical Skills of the Persons with differently abled such as Orthopaedically Impaired, Visually Impaired, Hearing impaired, Mentally Retarded and Leprosy Cured person. The Department is also responsible for safeguarding the rights of Persons with Disabilities as per the provisions of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. The Department is coordinating its activities with the Departments concerned i.e. RVM, DRDA,MEPMA, WDCW Dept., SC, BC Corporations, Housing etc.. for providing services for Differently abled persons through their departments.

The Office of the Assistant Director, Welfare of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, Vizianagaram is located at Collectorate Campus , Vizianagaram and having telephone number 08922-274647.

Schemes/Activities

Differently abled census as per 2011 census is 73,026 and the following is the abstract of Different abled persons

• Orthopadeic abled : 39,298
• Visually abled : 16,330
• Hearing abled : 10,140
• Mentally abled : 7258

Govt. Institutions.

Two Government Primary Residential Schools for Hearing Impaired and Visually Impaired from class I to VIII are running with a objective of providing special education for the Hearing Challenged and Visually Impaired children with sanctioned strength of 65 each school.

One Govt. Hostel for Differently Abled Girls: is running with sanctioned strength of 100 Nos., by providing free lodging & boarding, supply of dress, bedding material, note books etc., and payment of cosmetic charges of Rs.75/- per month. Presently 48, inmates are residing in the hostel.

During this year 2018-19, 6 students appeared for SSC Examinations and achieved 100% result.

New menu for Diet charges and Cosmetic Charges are implementing as per the Government Orders No 82 and 83 Dt.05-06-2018 in the above 3 institutions w.e.f 1st July 2018.

Schemes

• Pre-matric Scholarship: Under this scheme scholarships are being sanctioned to the Differently abled students studying from 1st to 10th Classes and whose parents annual income is below Rs.1.00 lakh is eligible. Sanctions are being made through online in Jnnabhumi portal from year 2018-19.From 1st to 5th – Rs.1000/-, 6th to 8th – 1500 and 9th & 10th – Rs.2250 per annum.
• Post-matric Scholarship: Under this scheme MTF and RTF is being sanctioned to the OC Differently abled students studying above 10th Class on par with other Welfare Departments through online.
• Economic Rehabilitation: Under this scheme the Differently Abled persons whose parents/guardians income is less than Rs.1.00 lakh per annum are eligible the bank linked subsidy @ 50% of the Unit cost not exceeding Rs.1,00,000/- per candidate. The sanctions are being made through Online process in OBMMS from 2018-19.
• Marriage Incentive Awards : To encourage the marriages between normal and Differently Abled persons Rs.1,00,000/- to each couple are being sanctioned who applied within one year from the date of performing their marriage irrespective of caste. For the Marriages performed after 20th April 2018 this scheme is being implemented as YSR Pellikanuka .
• Supply of Aids & Appliances i.e. Tricycles, Wheel Chairs, Crutches, Artificial Limbs, Calipers, Hearing Aids, Walking sticks, MP3 Players, Braille Slates, Daisy players, Touch phones etc.. to the needy differently abled persons , Motorized Vehicle to the needy orthopedic abled students studying PG and professional courses regularly. Govt. also sanction Spectacles, MCR Chappels and Walking sticks to the elder persons. The applications are submitted through online only.

Non Governmental Organisations

In Vizianagaram District the following NGOs are working with the financial support of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India.

• Society for Education for the Deaf & Dumb at perlavari Veedhi, Vizianagaram is the institute working for the welfare of Hearing abled person is providing free education and boarding from the class 1to10.
• Chaitanya Institute for the Learning Disabled, Kothavalasa, Vizianagaram is the institute working for the welfare of Hearing and Mentally Retarded abled persons. It is also providing free education and boarding from the class 1to10.
• Women and Child Welfare Centre, Garividi, Vizianagaram is the institute working for the welfare of Hearing abled , Blind and Mentally Retarded . It is also providing free education and boarding from the class 1to10.
• Society for Education and Environment Development (SEED), Vizianagaram is running 15 bedded Treat cum Rehabilitation centre for drug addicts under Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Scheme.

Welfare of Senior Citizens

• As per Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007, two Tribunals constituted at Divisional level i.e., one at Parvathipuram Division and another one at Vizianagaram Division under the Chairman of Concerned RDO and Assistant Director , Member and Convenor and also constituted appellate tribunals under the Chairmanship of District Collector , Senior Citizens Association member and Assistant Director, Welfare of Differently Abled & Sr. Citizens as a Member / Convenor .
• Govt. also sanction Spectacles, MCR Chappels and Walking sticks to the elder persons.
• Issue of Identity cards to Senior Citizens who aged above 60 years. Which is use full for getting Concession in Railway Ticket and Bus Tickets etc. So far 2707 cards have been issued.
• Every year 1st October is observed as World Elders Day and celebrations are conducted at District Level with coordination of Associations.
• Approximately, 94545 Senior Citizens have been sanctioned Old Age pensions @ Rs, 1,000/- p.m. in the District through DRDA, Vizianagaram.
• Nearly 1185 Senior Citizens under below poverty line are supplied 20 kgs rice each beneficiary under Annapoorna Scheme through Civil Supply Department.
• In coordinate with District Medical and Health Department Generic Health Wards have been opened in M.R. Govt. Hospital for Senior Citizens.
• As per Central Govt. scheme “ Rastriya Vayosriyojana Scheme” 4 assessment camps have been conducted in Vizianagaram District for supply of Aids & appliances like Hearing Aids, Wheel Chairs, Crutches, Hand Sticks etc. to the needy older persons organisted by ALIMCO , Hyderabad. In these camps 273 beneficiaries are identified for supply of 2586 items worth of Rs. 17.37 lakhs.
• So far 54 Spectacles and 17 MCR Chappels are sanctioned to Senior Citizens in the District through AP Differently Abled And Sr. Citizens Assistance Corporation.
• Recently 19 Walking Sticks have been distributed at Night Shelter located at Vizianagaram and 6 Walking sticks have been distributed at ABCD Old Age Home, Pinavemali, Vizianagaram Mandal on 12-09-2018.

Important Site Links

• For Sanction of Aids & appliances
• For Pre-matric and Post-matric Scholarships

Award

During the year 2018-19, Smt B.padmavathi , Assistant Director(FAC) has achieved BEST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN THE STATE AWARD on the eve of International Day of Differently Abled i.e. 3rd December’2018 . This state award should be presented by the Hon’ble Chief Minister.

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