Differently-abled kept in ‘dark’ on availing free bus pass in TN

CHENNAI: Several Persons with Disability (PwD) have alleged that the Department of Welfare of Differently Abled Persons have not given them any clarification on applying for new bus passes for this year as the officials have been stalling from confirming the mode of submitting the application for the same.

As the new pass will be effective from April 1 after the previous one expires on March 31, the PwDs have been eager to apply for the bus pass at district disability welfare offices of the State.

They say that the officials at the district disability welfare office in DMS campus, Teynampet have been delaying from confirming the PwD beneficiaries when and in which mode they can apply for the bus pass.

Speaking to DT NEXT, V Gopalakrishnan, a city based activist said, "It is a regular process that PwDs apply for the bus pass with the disability welfare office and the department further coordinates with MTC to procure the bus pass. The yearly pass expires on March 31 every year."

However, Gopalakrishnan said that he has been visiting the DMS office since March 8. However, the officials had been requesting him come back later.

"Since my first visit and during multiple attempts of contacting the staff at DMS office, I was repeatedly told that the department hasn't confirmed if the application for the bus pass should be taken offline or online. Despite the pass expiring on March 31, the department is yet to confirm this."

Meanwhile, it was also found that the disability welfare office usually takes one-month time to issue the pass, while MTC turn-around-time for issuing the bus pass for PwD is only seven days.

Hence, PwDs question why even have the bus pass as they should have the PwD ID issued by the government and have a free ride in government buses like women.

Efforts to reach welfare of differently abled department officials proved futile.