Minister for Child Welfare, Women Development and Disabled Welfare Sunitha Laxma Reddy on Tuesday said that the State government was committed to the welfare of handicapped.
Speaking to the media here, Sunitha alleged that the Opposition parties were politicizing the issues of the handicapped. She said that the government would not compromise on pensions, education and reservations to the handicapped. The government was also striving for protecting rights of the handicapped.
Stating that there were 13,64,981 handicapped persons in the State, she said the government was doing everything for their welfare. The government had increased fund allocation to Rs 65.79 crores for the handicapped in 2012-13 budget from Rs 22 crore in 1999-2000. Stating that the government was spending Rs 221 crores for the welfare of the handicapped, she said that in 2012-13 scholarships were extended to 13, 15.686 handicapped students. (NSS)