Punjab Blind Professors and Lectures\Association (PBPLA) President Professor Mohammad Tahir on Friday requested the Punjab chief minister to provide the differently-abled professors serving in various colleges of the province their entitled facilities and allowances halted by the quarters concerned.
In his message on the World White Cane Safety Day 2021 marked every year on October 15, the PBPLA president told APP that these demands were already being presented before former governments time to time but no heed was ever paid.
Professor Tahir said, “But we anticipate for good gestures from the chief minister due to his kind heart and nice thinking regarding differently-abled persons.”
He informed that the sum under the head of special conveyance allowance, was insufficient during current age, that was requested to increase up to Rs10,000, from its existing rate of Rs2000, so that the physically challenged may avail relatively safer transport facilities to approach their working places.
PBPLA president told that all these requests were raised in the application written to the chief minister. He noted that all of the employees working in special education department were drawing special allowance equal to full basic pay.
“Even the normal people working in that department have also been blessed with this allowance despite the fact that those normal employees don’t genuinely deserve it,” he said. Professor Tahir regretted that on the contrary, the disabled employees have to face much greater issues and problems, while working in general education.
“CM has also been urged to increase the existing special allowance to the level of full basic pay for all the disabled professors and lecturers.
However, it is worth-mentioning here that we are very small in number, so this increase will not considerably burden national exchequer,” he underlined.
Professor Tahir informed that the Punjab CM was also requested to direct quarters concerned for the allotment of official residence to disabled employees on priority basis alongwith the provision of laptops as they had to rely almost exclusively upon computers, especially in connection with the scanning and reading of books and other reading material.
