Verify certificates of specially-abled people, says Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has instructed the health department to verify differently-abled certificates so as to eliminate the possibility of their misuse. The CM has constituted a scrutiny committee to detect bogus certificates, and stringent action will be taken against persons found using such certificates.

An official from the disability commissionerate said that they already had software to detect ineligible candidates with data pertaining to differently-abled persons available online.

The software for assessment of disability, Maharashtra (SADM) issued a unique identification number to deal with the problem of bogus disability certificates.

Dr Pradeep Vyas, health secretary, told The Asian Age, “We are looking into these issues seriously. While there is software which deals with the problem, we are also checking whether the same can be manipulated.”

“If we find any kind of manipulation, stringent action will be immediately taken to stop such malpractices. Our team is working on checking how many certificates have been issued and whether all of them are genuine or not,” he said.

An official at the disability commissionerate said, “We have formed a scrutiny committee and an online-based software system that will solve the problem of bogus disability certificates. Earlier, people used to make more than one disability certificate or duplicate certificates to avail of facilities.”

Earlier, disability certificates were made manually so there was a greater possibility of fake differently-abled certificates. The new online system ensures that there is no duplication of certificates. Differently-abled people are classified into five categories i.e. visual impairment, hearing impairment, loco motor or physical disability, mental retardation and mental illness.