Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered a special state-wide recruitment drive to clear the backlog of vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the state government’s various departments.

The Chief Minister, who issued the directive during his meeting with the MLAs from Doaba region after the issue was raised by Gurdaspur MP and Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, had directed the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to clear the backlog of vacancies meant for persons with disability in a time-bound manner on top priority, said an official spokesperson.

The directive came in view of the Chief Minister’s meeting with a specially-abled international level Para Badminton player Sanjeev Kumar, who had called on the former at Punjab Bhawan.

The Chief Minister ordered the Social Security Department to immediately identify the vacancies in all the departments so as to initiate the process for special recruitment drive for persons with disabilities at the earliest. Reiterating his Government’s firm commitment to enable the disabled persons to lead a life of dignity, the Chief Minister also asked the Chief Secretary to monitor the progress in this regard regularly so as to accomplish this task in a fixed time.

The Chief Minister also directed the Department of Social Security to provide wheelchairs and other aids to disabled persons, the spokesperson said, adding that the Congress Government was committed to the welfare of all sections of the society, particularly the disadvantaged.

Pertinently, since taking over in March 2017, as many as 577 disabled persons have already been provided employment by the State Government, the spokesperson added.