Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday, on the occasion of World Day with Disabilities, presented prize money, medals, citations and certificates to the participants with disabilities in the state level efficiency award distribution ceremony organized by the Social Welfare Department at Haldwani MBPG College Auditorium.

On this occasion, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the multipurpose office building of the Commissioner for Divyangjan Uttarakhand, Uttarakhand Multipurpose Finance and Development Corporation Limited and Social Welfare IT Cell, to be built at a cost of ₹ 905.13 lakh in Dehradun and inaugurated the Pradhan Mantri Divyasha Kendra, Nainital (ALIMCO).

While wishing all the disabled people on World Disabled Day, the Chief Minister said that this day is not just a formality but an opportunity to honor those extraordinary individuals who have given direction to the society by turning challenges into opportunities and struggles into inspiration. He said that “Disability can be in the body, but not in dreams”, and today our disabled brothers and sisters are making the country proud in every field. He said that people with disabilities are not disabled but are divine parts of the society.

He shared inspiring examples like Murlikant Petkar, India’s first Paralympic gold medalist, Satyendra Singh Lohia who crossed the English Channel and Sheetal Devi, who became world para archery champion without hands. The Chief Minister also expressed pride in India’s disabled women’s cricket team recently winning the T20 Blind Women World Cup-2025 in Colombo.

The Chief Minister said that today both the Central and State Governments are committed to providing equal opportunities and dignified life to the disabled people. Disabled-friendly arrangements have been made mandatory in the construction of new buildings, hospitals and bus stands. Necessary changes have also been made in many old buildings for accessibility. Apart from this, the spread of “Common Sign Language” and encouragement to disabled friendly start-ups is also a priority of the government.

The Chief Minister said that the state government is providing ₹ 1500 monthly pension to economically weaker disabled persons, ₹ 700 monthly maintenance grant to parents of disabled children, ₹ 1200 monthly pension under Teelu Rauteli Special Disabled Pension Scheme and Dwarf Pension Scheme, along with increasing the horizontal reservation for disabled people in government jobs from 3 percent to 4 percent, scholarship to disabled students and ₹ 7000 grant for artificial limbs. ₹ 50,000 incentive amount on marrying a disabled student, free online coaching facility for Civil Services Examination is being provided to disabled students and integrated benefits of all the schemes are being provided to them through the District Disabled Rehabilitation Centres.

Along with this, arrangements for online hearing have been made in the office of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in Dehradun and a rehabilitation home for the mentally handicapped has been constructed in Udham Singh Nagar. The state’s first “Pradhan Mantri Divyansha Kendra” has also been started in Dehradun. For the first time after the formation of the state, the Disability Survey has also been started, so that the actual number and needs of the disabled people can be accurately assessed.

The Chief Minister appealed to the “Young Innovative Minds” of the state to give special place to the needs of persons with disabilities in their inventions and to make the lives of persons with disabilities more accessible by developing artificial intelligence based technology. He also instructed the officials to provide necessary support to such youth.

In the programme, prize money of ₹ 8000, medals, citations and certificates were given to 41 talented disabled persons by the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister also met everyone personally and boosted their morale.
District Panchayat President Deepa Darmwal, Mayor Gajraj Bisht, MLA Banshidhar Bhagat, Sarita Arya, Ram Singh Kaida, Minister of State Suresh Bhatt, Secretary Social Welfare Shridhar Babu Adangi, IG Riddhim Aggarwal, District Magistrate Lalit Mohan Rayal, SSP Dr. Manjunath TC and many public representatives, officers, distinguished citizens and a large number of disabled people were present in the program.