THANE, May 10: The two-day conference of the National Federation of the Blind; Maharashtra unit, which began here on Saturday, reitrated its demand that the Bill on Disabled be implemented immediately. The Bill has been passed by both houses of Parliament and the President has also given his assent to it.

Speaking on the occasion, the president of the Federation, Raghunath K Raikbe, gave the government an ultimatum to implement the provisions of the Act. He warned that the blind in the state would otherwise launch a serious agitation for their rights.``One of our most important objectives is to change attitudes of people in society towards the blind,'' he said. He said that the organisation was aiming at encouraging the blind to regard themselves in a positive way so that they grow into useful and valuable citizens of the country.

``We only want the state to give the blind, their fundamental basic right and we have been striving for the same since long,'' he said.

He said that the Sena-BJP government during the last two years of its tenure, had done nothing constructive for the blind in the state.

The convenor of the conference, Madhuri Desai, in her speech, pointed out that the Act which had been passed by the Parliament had a number of flaws and did not provide answers to various queries.

More than three hundred blind women from all over the state are attending this convention which will deliberate on several issues relating to the blind women in the state. The conference has several guests lectures, group discussions, and workshop on various welfare measures for women.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.