Kathmandu, Apr. 6:A workshop  seminar to discuss and interact on the problems of the disabled in Nepal was organised here Wednesday  under the joint auspices of the Swedish International Disabled Assistance Association (siaa) and the Aiaa-assisted associations of the disabled in Nepal.

Member-secretary of the Social Welfare Council Dr. Tika Pokharel and member of the siaa board of governors Miss Ulla Lindberg jointly inaugurated the workshop.

Addressing the inaugural function, member-secretary Pokharel said that the government had been providing financial assistance to the disabled to help them set up skill development and income generating programmes aimed at making them economically self-reliant.

On the occasion, general secretary of Nepal Disabled Association Tirtha Raj Wanta complained that the legal provisions and regulations formulated to ensure the social well-being and safeguarding of the rights and benefits of the disabled were not being implemented in earnest.

He also stressed proper representation of the disabled at the policy formulation level.

Chief guest of the programme and member of the Swedish International Disabled Assistance Association Miss Ulla Lindberg underscored the need for maintaining a working unity among all the disabled persons throughout the world and said mutual coordination and cooperation would help in the efforts aimed at their development.

At the programme, director of the Social Welfare Council Jeevan Bhattarai presented a working paper on “the functional structure, evaluation and monitoring of the international assistance and financial stability” while under-secretary at the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare Ritu Rajbhandari presented a working paper entitled “Nepal’s status and the decade of the disabled in the Asia-Pacific region”.

Similarly, officer of the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare Balram Soti presented a working paper entitled “the use of UN recognised regulations in Nepal”.

According to information given at the workshop there are 300 million disabled people in the world and 2.7 million disabled persons in Nepal.

Siaa has been assisting the Nepal Disabled Association, the Kathmandu District Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,   Nepal Federation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Nepal Hemophilia Society in various sectors.

The seminar is being attended by  60 persons including the blind, the disabled and the hearing impaired from Nepal and Sweden and representatives of concerned institutions.