Country’s ten different organisations for Persons with Disabilities sought an increase in allocation for employment and social safety-net scheme in the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22.
In their seven-point demands, they also called for a hike of monthly disability allowance to Tk 1,500 from the existing Tk 750 for each person as the government itself has promised to increase the disability allowance to Tk 1,500 by 2020 as per the government's Social Safety Strategy Paper 2015.
The seven-point demands were made at a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club as part of their post-budget reaction on Saturday.
Speakers at the human chain claimed that people with disabilities have been completely ignored in the social safety net sector in this year's budget for 2021-22.
They said that despite several webinars and specific recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Planning from the organisations of persons with disabilities, none of them was taken into account.
Salma Mahbub, general secretary of B-SCAN, Disabled Child Foundation (DCF) founder and executive director Nasrin Jahan and Iftekhar Mahmood, coordinator of B-SCAN, among others, were present at the function.
Speaking at the function, Ms. Salma Mahbub said instead of increasing the amount of disability allowance for the last two years, the coverage of allowance is being increased which is not having any impact on the lives and livelihood of the country’s disabled people.
She also demanded the implementation of the Department of Disabilities Development immediately to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities.
Ms Nasrin Jahan said if the government can allocate more Tk 6.0 billion (600 crore) in the budget, it is possible to increase the monthly allowance of persons with disabilities from Tk 750 to Tk 1,000.
The ten organisations are AUDC, Bangladesh Society for the Change and Advocacy Nexus (B-SCAN), BDDT, CPDCBO, DCF, DDRC, HDDF, NCDW, NGDO and WDDF.
