Rs 120cr to be allocated for 'half-way home' scheme

MADURAI: The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment would be allocating Rs 120 crore for the ''half-way home'' scheme for giving vocational training and other education for the mentally challenged persons who were discharged after treatment, but taking medicines at home.
Anjani Kumar Singh, Director of the Ministry, and L Govinda Rao, Director of the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, said that scheme would be introduced in the coming months this year as there was hesitation among the relatives of the mentally challenged persons in accepting them back at their home, and they also needed to be independent.
The directors who earlier held a meeting to review various programmes of the ministry and also get the feedback on the success of various projects for the disabled people, as also the suggestion for improving the projects at the Meenakshi Mission hospital here, said the ministry would train the persons who had been cured or mostly live independently and get secured income.
The scheme would be introduced in all the states simultaneously. They said India topped in welfare programmes for the mentally challenged persons.
The ministry was also planning to introduce a scholarship scheme for the disabled students to pursue their education to the end. Under the scheme each student would be paid, ''ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 depending on the course''.