The proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal has disappointed the persons with disabilities as the government merely increased the number of disability allowance recipients, but did not increase the monthly allowance.
Persons with disabilities have been demanding an increase in the monthly allowance from Tk聽850 to Tk聽5,000 a year.
In the fiscal year 2024-25 budget speech, finance minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali on Thursday in Parliament announced that the number of disability allowance recipients would be increased from the current 29 lakh to 32.34 lakh.聽
Besides, the stipend for students with disabilities will be raised from Tk聽950 to Tk聽1050 at the higher secondary level, he added.
Iftekhar Mahmud, the member secretary of the Aggrieved Disabled Civil Society, a platform for disability rights organisations advocating raising the monthly allowance for persons with disabilities, said that the proposed budget, which focuses on increasing the number of disability allowance recipients, will add no value to the lives of those with disabilities.聽聽聽
鈥業t would have been beneficial for persons with disabilities if the government had raised the allowance instead of increasing the number of beneficiaries,鈥� he said, adding that with the current disability allowance, it is not possible to keep up with escalating living costs, as around 90 per cent of them are either unemployed or not capable of working.聽
In the budget speech, the finance minister said, 鈥榃e are committed to protect the interests and rights of persons with disabilities.鈥�
Iftekhar said, 鈥楾he government is not keeping its commitment, as the 8th Five-Year Plan for 2020-2025 had planned to increase the allowance to Tk 3,000.鈥�
From the FY 2003-04 to 2022-23, around Tk 16 crore in the form of grants and loans have been distributed from the welfare fund of National Disabled Development Foundation to private organisations supporting disabled persons, benefiting approximately 1.30 lakh individuals, the minister said during the budget session.聽
A total of 103 disabled service and aid centres are being operated across 64 districts and 39 upazilas for providing therapeutic services to the country鈥檚 disabled population.
In 2005, the allowance programme started with a monthly stipend of Tk聽200, which increased to Tk聽750 over the years and then to Tk聽850 in 2022.
