Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant launches wheel chair accessible buses

In a bid to aid specially-abled children who use wheelchairs, the Prime Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant launched wheelchair accessible school buses for students of Sanjay Centre for Special Education in Porvorim on Tuesday.

The Chairman of Sanjay Center for Special Education Guruprasad Pawaskar said that for the first time such buses have been brought in the state. He also welcomed the initiative and said that wheelchair-bound students will truly benefit from it. 

"This is the first kind of bus in the state of Goa for the specially-abled children basically for the wheelchair-bound students. We had to face great difficulty in getting the wheelchair students to the school and there used to be a drop out in the higher secondary classes. This was the need of the hour."

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Sawant while speaking to ANI said the initiative was a mutual effort by both parties as Pawaskar requested the CM to start a special cell within the education department:

"I congratulate Guruprasad Pawaskar for initiating new ideas. He has demanded me to start a special cell in the education department of the special school called 'Divyaang cell' and we are definitely considering this provision."   

When asked about the government's plan for the specially-abled children, Sawant said that two divyang centres will be started in northern and southern parts of Goa:

"We are starting with the divyang skill education program and my intention is to start with two divyang centres, one in the north and one in the south so that the special disabled students can become economically independent by taking the training and definitely we will give special attention to this programme", Sawant added. 

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Earlier on Saturday, Sawant visited Amethi in Uttar Pradesh with Union Minister Smriti Irani and met the people at the villages that were adopted by late Goa CM Manohar Parrikar on June 22.  Alongside, they are also set to meet the family of Surendra Singh, the former village head of Barauli, who was shot dead late at night at his residence on May 25. Talking to the media, Sawant said that:

" I had come to work in Amethi in 2014 too as a worker, I had worked with Surendra Singh (former village head of Barauli, who was shot dead last month) for 20-22 days, I knew him very well."