In a major embarrassment to the Punjab Government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has virtually rapped it for discriminating between victims of disabilities and told it to frame a policy for granting conveyance allowance to the “deaf and dumb”.

The direction by Justice Daya Chaudhary came on a petition by Madan Lal against the State of Punjab and other respondents. He was seeking the benefit of transport allowance as admissible to “blind and physically handicapped employees”.

After initially being denied the opportunity to study at NMMU because the university lacked the proper facilities to accommodate completely blind students, two visually impaired graduates walked across the stage yesterday to collect their certificates.

This after The Herald broke the story of how three blind NMMU hopefuls had had their dreams dashed when the university initially rejected their applications because it was not equipped to accommodate them.

The 22nd yearly inter-house sports competition of the Vocational Training Centre for the visually impaired will hold on April 6 at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Field.

Two houses, Blue and Red, with 29 students in each House, will participate in events that include March Past, 50 metres (male and female, three legged race (male and female), walking race (male and female), shot put and tug of war. Others are invitational relay races, Old students race, parents/guardian race, executive council members/friends of the society race, staff race and search game (female).

IMPHAL, Apr 3: The National Federation of the Blind is planning to establish a centre at Imphal to enable the blind people of the State to avail the benefits of its various programmes.

To connect blind students with IT world, the State Department of Social Security and Empowerment of PwDs (SSEPD) distributed 108 laptops to blind students at a function held at the VRCH premises here on Thursday.

Chief guest SSEPD Minister Usha Devi said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has created the independent department for persons with disabilities (PwDs) to focus on their rehabilitation and empowerment.