Release Tk 31cr allocated for people with disabilities
National Forum of Organisations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD) in a view exchange meeting yesterday demanded that the government release Tk 31 crore, allocated for the people with disabilities in the national budget for the fiscal year 2008-'09 by this month.
NFOWD Chairman Khandakar Jahirul Alam said if the money is not handed over by this month to Jatiya Pratibondhi Unnayan Foundation, the only government-supported organisation for the disabled people of the country, it would go back to the World Bank which has given the money to the government as loan.
Styled 'Allocation of national budget and the present situation to materialise the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,' the view exchange meeting was organised by NFOWD at the WVA auditorium in the city.
Bangladesh is the 8th country to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which has became effective in the world since May 3, 2008, said Jahedul Kabir and Rafiquzzaman, paper presenters and members of the forum.
Bangladesh ratified the optional protocol of the convention on May 8 this year. It also made a national policy on disability in 1995, formulated the Disabled Welfare Act in 2001 and adopted a national plan of action for the disabled in 2006, they added.
The keynote presenters further said there is no reflection of the government's commitment in allocation of national budget for this neglected group of society.
Prof Atikur Rahman of Social Welfare Institute at Dhaka University, SEID Trust Director Dilara Satter Mitu, Executive Director of Prip Trust Aroma Dutt and Mahbub Kabir also spoke.
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