Centre geo-tagging institutions for people with disabilities, says official

The Centre is in the process of geo-tagging institutions for people with disabilities under the PM Gati Shakti project to improve accessibility, a senior official said on Saturday. The Department of Disabilities is collaborating with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications & Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) for geo-tagging all the institutes for people with disabilities, Joint Secretary in the Disabilities Affairs Department Rajeev Yadav said. He said the process is aimed at bringing all such institutes on a single portal to stay updated about their ongoing projects.

"Under PM Gati Shakti, social infra of national institutes, regional centres and ALIMCO centres would also be brought on board so that people have an idea about them. There is a need to bring everything on a single platform so that all such institutes can be geo-tagged," he said. Yadav further said most of the institutes have been geo-tagged, adding that now, only 450 Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme and 13 NGO-run braille press are left. "The geo-tagging process that started in December would be completed by June 30," Yadav told PTI. A meeting of concerned ministries with the PM office has also been held in this regard. The government is also in the process of geo-tagging all the Anganwadi centres in the country. Till now, over 10 lakh Anganwadi have been geo-tagged in the country, sources at the Women and Child Development Ministry said earlier this week.

There are around 14 lakh Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the country.