Amid criticism, the Vellore Corporation will stick to its original plan of allotting one shop each for persons with disabilities, trangenders, Aavin and Tantea at the recently opened bus terminus in Vellore.
The Corporation’s plan has come at a time when persons with disabilities have criticised the civic body’s move in allotting only one shop for persons with disabilities as against the five per cent of reservation in such public allotment that has been outlined under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act 2016. “We are going by the rule book. Such allotment of shops is also being done for transgenders as part of inclusive growth. We will stick to the one-shop policy,” P. Ashok Kumar, Commissioner, Vellore City Corporation, told The Hindu. Officials said that the Act refers to the five per cent reservation for persons with disabilities mainly related to government recruitment. The Act does not make it mandatory for urban local bodies (ULBs) to make such reservations on revenue generating ventures, like shops in public places. In such income-based ventures, the ULBs were mandated to follow a government order (G.O.) of 2000 that stipulates one shop for persons with disabilities.
