KARO – Karnataka Angavikalara Rajya Okkuta, appreciates the initiative taken by the Government and NGOs to create job opportunities and skill development. According to the Labour Commissioner, Government of Karnataka, this initiative was to atleast to provide 1000 jobs to Bangalore based persons with disability. This job fair was organised on 17 & 18th July 2010 at Dharmaram college Campus, Hosur Road, Bangalore. Unfortunately the poor planning and lack of co-ordination has resulted this great initiative a total failure. This failure was done at the cost of self-esteem of people with disability. On the 17th persons with disability suffered a lot due to lack of basic facilities. Problems faced…. 1. No proper guidance / counselling facilities which led people with disability to utter confusion and distress. 2. To reach the job fair location disabled were force to crawl or walk 2 kms from the entrance of the site. No alternate support system was provided. 3. Inaccessible toilets and no drinking water. Especially for people who travelled as far from Gulbarga, Raichur, Hubli, and so on. 4. Information and support in Sign and Braille language was not available. 5. With the known fact of 1000 employment opportunities would be made available through this fair, invitations were sent all over the state without proper guidance. 6. Counsellors were insensitive while giving their remarks like will you wash the car, clean the toilets, that is the job you are eligible for etc.. were very insulting to any persons indeed. The list will go on, which were also reflected in leading news papers. Due to these problems and irresponsible attitude from the organiser, disabled people were forced to go for protest. Inspite of having protest for about two hours, organisers didn’t turn up to solve the problem. When the police manhandled Mr.Nagendra who is a spinal cord injured person and Secretary for Network of persons with spinal cord injury, which was initiated by Association of People with Disability – APD, none of the mute spectators from APD went to help him. Mr.Nandish, KARO member and SAMA Foundation staff, who too has disability, went to rescue Mr.Nagendra was beaten by police and was arrested and got released at 8 PM which is also recorded in the police station. The mute spectators which included self-crowned saviours in the field of disability - Mr.Basavaraj, CEO, APD and Mr. Gopinath, Director, Programmes were careless and cynically laughing by looking at the plight of Nagendra and Nandish. On that same evening I got a call from Mr. Basaiah and Mr.Janardhan, staff of APD, that APD will organise a meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue. I visited the spot to look at the accessibility issues and to discuss with organisers about the happenings. But Mr.Basavaraj, CEO, Association of People with Disability, misguided the Police that I was here to create trouble as usual Mr. Basavaraj well known in the sector for his masculinity fled the scene. Upon the misguidance by Basavaraj, Mr.Janardhan, Inspector of Police, who was at the spot behaved in a very worst and inhumanly. He used fowl language, also denoting that people from networks are here to create trouble and he knows how to handle them and threatened to send me to hospital if I do not quit the place. I did not get a chance to express my situation. This very clearly shows that APD as an organisation is taking advocacy issue only to get funds from the donors not to empower the voice of voiceless. It is very disgusting that this is happening from an esteem organisation which was founded by Ms. Hema madam, whom we all consider as mother. We have decided to organise press meet and candle light vigil against the atrocities of Mr.Janardhan Inspector of Police and against the cheating by APD Directors, indeed they claim they are for the Rights of persons with disabilities.
We request your solidarity and be part….
With regards
G.RAMANATHANState Secretary
