Aurangabad, Jan 21:
The members of Handicapped Cell of Congress today staged a dharna in front of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) demanding to disburse honorarium to all registered disabled, cancel the newly drafted 18-point programme intending welfare of the disabled, etc.
The agitators claimed that there are 2,500 to 3,000 registered disabled persons with the AMC then also it is distributing honorarium to 950 members only. The honorarium should be disbursed to all disabled on priority. They also underlined that the AMC administrator should immediately scrap the 18-point programme intending their welfare in the city. The agitators to come on the roads again on February 2, if the AMC does not fulfils their demands, stated the memorandum submitted to the administrator by Abdul Mudassir Ansari, Shaikh Munir, Sanjay Khule and others.
The disabled members also pointed out that the government had ordered AMC to spend 5 per cent of its annual budget on the welfare of the disabled. Presently, the AMC pays an honorarium of Rs 2,000 to 40 per cent to 80 pc disabled persons and Rs 3,000 to persons who are 80 pc to 100 pc disabled.