In a bid to uphold the rights of the people with disabilities, the government plans to increase their allowance by Tk 100 and increase the coverage by 3.57 lakh in the upcoming 2022-23 financial year.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made the disclosure on Thursday while presenting the proposed Tk 6,78,064 crore national budget for FY2022-23 in parliament.
In FY2021-2022, allowances are being provided to 20.08 lakh persons with disabilities at the monthly rate of Tk 750. The number of beneficiaries is planned to be increased by 3.57 lakh in FY2022-2023 to 23.65 lakh, he said in the budget speech.
“At this time, the rate of monthly allowance will be increased by Tk 100, from Tk 750 to Tk 850. I proposed to allocate Tk 2,429 crore in FY2022-2023 as disability allowances,” Kamal said.
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He also said that apart from the allowance programme, the government has also introduced disability education stipend for students with disabilities. “Under this programme in FY2021-2022, the number of beneficiaries was 1 lakh and the annual allocation was Tk 95.64 crore.”
“In this year, Hon’ble Prime Minister has inaugurated ‘Bangabandhu Disability Protection Insurance’ on the National Insurance Day under the Neuro-Developmental Disability Protection Trust to reduce the health and life risk of people with Autism and Neuro-Developmental Disability of the country,” he added.
Sharing the implementation status of commitments in this regard in FY2021-22 budget, he said, “As per the latest disability identification survey, the number of beneficiaries under the category of Insolvent Disabled Persons has increased by 2.8 lakh.
“An allocation of Tk 1,820 crore has been made for the beneficiaries including additional Tk 200 crore needed for the increased number of 20.08 lakh.”
