Rights of the Disabled
Thirty-nine-year-old Sumit Anand, a doctor with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, is running from pillar to post for the past six months to get his salary and other entitlements guaranteed under the Rights of Persons with Disability (PwD) Act 2016. Despite the government guidelines exempting persons with disabilities from Covid duties, he rendered his service as in-charge of a Covid testing centre in Karol Bagh until recently. For this, he got appreciation letters from the Delhi administration. Yet, he can’t pay the rent of his Rohini flat and foot the medical bills of his elderly parents (his father has Parkinson’s disease and other ailments).
“I have no money even for my physiotherapy sessions, which are necessary to keep me going. That leaves me no option but to beg and borrow,” says Anand. “As the sole breadearner of my family, I don’t know how long I can survive like...
