The Jharkhand government will launch a special campaign to give unique identity cards to the persons with disabilities by March 31.

In a letter to deputy commissioners of all 24 districts, Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdev Singh said that there are nearly 2.75 lakh people who do not possess disability certificates and so are deprived of government benefits.

The letter also intimates to the deputy commissioners that the health department had been already directed to all the civil surgeons in February that medical boards meeting should be held daily to dole out disability certificates.

“Earlier, the meeting of the medical board for the disabled used to be held twice a month. The health department had already taken steps to fill up required specialists for the medical boards in February. The deputy commissioners have to ensure that the specialists have joined their post and the medical board is functional,” the letter states.

The district civil surgeon and district social welfare officer have to monitor that the medical board meetings are held in camp mode and also arrange for proper publicity so that disabled persons get information in time to attend it.

The letter also directs that old disability certificates should be digitalised and converted into Unique Disability ID (UDID) at these camps.

East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Jadav Vijaya Narayan Rao speaking to The Telegraph confirmed that efforts are on to organise such camps at least for two days in each of the blocks.

“We don’t want disabled people to travel far distances to attend the camps and get the certificates at their respective blocks. We are trying to arrange specialists for the medical boards so that camps are held in each block,” said Rao.

Arun Kumar Singh, president of the Jharkhand Viklang Manch hailed the initiative and called upon the government to ensure that specialist doctors are available at the medical boards.