Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Virendra Kumar, will virtually inaugurate the services of Composite Regional Centre (CRC) for Skill Development, Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) CRC- Shillong tomorrow.
S Sankara Narayanan, Deputy Registrar (Admin) of National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD), told reporters on Monday, “To empower the persons with disabilities, we need to establish certain centres which are to be composite in nature.”
CRC Shillong will be the 21st such centre to address different kinds of disabilities.
The state government will provide 10 acres of land at Umsawli in East Khasi Hills to build a permanent building of CRC, Narayanan informed.
“The CRC will address the life-span needs of people with disabilities. It has been functioning since June, 2021 but we are formally inaugurating it now and soon there will be a permanent building also,” he said.
The state Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, S B Marak, said that the inauguration of CRC will be a milestone for the state where the services of different kinds will be delivered to the PwDs.
It may be mentioned that CRC- Shillong is situated, at present, at Monfort Building, Dhankheti, functioning under the administrative control of NIEPMD, Chennai, under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MSJ&E), with the aim of providing services required for PwDs and developing human resources in the state.
CRC-Shillong provides clinical services to PwDs in special education, physiotherapy, vocational rehabilitation, clinical psychology, orientation and mobility training, occupational therapy, speech & hearing services, prosthetic & orthotic services, sensory integration, guidance & counseling and community-based rehabilitation (CBR) services.
CRC-Shillong also distributes aids and appliances to the PwDs under ADIP (Assistance to Disabled Persons) Scheme by organising ADIP assessment and distribution camp.