A number of disabled women, and the women spouses of persons with disabilities, from across the State have alleged that they have been denied allowance as part of the Kalaignar Mahalir Urimai Thittam as a member in their family is receiving disability allowance from the State.
When they first applied, some said that the application was rejected citing their retrofitted vehicle, given for free by the government, which was considered as a four-wheeler, while others claim that as they receive disability allowance from the government, it was considered as income and (their applications) were rejected. “My husband is disabled and he uses a retrofitted vehicle. I was rejected in the first round due to the vehicle. I appealed and was rejected again as my husband is receiving allowance. I have now re-applied,” said M. Jayalakshmi from Erukkancheri.
She has since submitted various documents regarding the vehicle, income, disability allowance papers and others, but has not received any word on this yet.
Similarly, Dhanalakshmi from Dindigul was told that her application was rejected as her husband was receiving the disability pension. “I did not appeal as the entire process was intimidating at the office. I decided not to proceed,” she said.
Saroja from Thoothukudi said: “I had appealed after I was rejected as it was stated that I was receiving a disability pension. But that is not an income.” About 10 others from Ponaari in the district were rejected like her and the same reason was cited.
However, officials from the Special Programme Implementation Department have said that they rectified the exclusionary retrofitted clause. It was originally grounds for disqualification as the vehicle was registered as a four-wheeler at the Regional Transport Office. As of October, 4,809 differently-abled vehicle details were collected and were made beneficiaries under the scheme, said an official.
When the Tamil Nadu government released their guidelines in July, they had said that those receiving disability allowance or a member in the family receiving the allowance would be ineligible for the scheme. However, it was modified a week later to include that any member of the family receiving the allowance would also be eligible to receive ₹1,000 under the scheme.
“The disability allowance is for additional expenditure, which will occur if it is not an income. To consider it as a criteria just to cut down on beneficiaries is unjust. Karnataka, too, has a scheme along the same lines, but no disabled women are cut off,” said State-level vice-president of TARTADAC S. Namburajan.
