HITARTH PANDYA; Indian Express; 3,December 2010,
An active member of an NGO working for the disabled, N Janardhan will, however, not take part in any programmes on World Disabled Day on Friday. The retired employee of the Project and Development India Limited is himself a disabled having lost his legs some years ago.
He said: “We don’t look for charity, but respect, which is somehow missing. Be it our demand for concession in city bus services or a reserved seat in the bus, those remain only as demands and the government machinery and people treat us the way we have been treated. I have refused to take part in the morcha at the collector’s office because I felt it was nothing but another form of begging.” Janardhanan said his fight with his former employer for his basic rights like pension and a lump sum amount of Rs 40,000 which he is get as per the rules, has continued for years. “I have filed countless appli
cations under the Right To Information (RTI) Act to prove my point that a handicapped employee who has given 30 years of his professional life to a company should be treated with proper dignity. But the entire experience has turned out to be painful. The government departments, which are meant to support us, stoop down in front of the company officials who have been lying even in their reply to the RTI queries,” Janardhanan said.
“The moment the respondents from the government department realise that the RTI query will put them in a fix, either do not give proper reply or do not reply at all.
It is unfortunate that handicapped persons are forced to file RTI queries for their basic rights. I refused to meet a top official from PDIL as he wanted me to go for a ‘settlement’, simply because my fight is not for money but for my rights,” Janardhanan added.
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