Siliguri, Jan. 4: Only about 30 per cent of the estimated 18.5 lakh challenged people in Bengal have disability certificates, which are a must to derive benefits from government schemes.

The figure came up at a workshop organised by North Bengal and Sikkim Regional Disabled Activists’ Forum here today.

NGO members and government officials, who took part in the meet, concurred that even 12 years after the Persons with Disabilities Act was passed, a lot remains to be done in empowering challenged people.

Senior government officials said efforts were on to solve the problem about certificates.

“We have begun holding camps at the block level to issue medical certificates to persons with disability,” said S.N. Haque, the principal secretary of the women, child development and social welfare department of Bengal.

However, unavailability of specialists in government hospitals is proving to be a major impediment, said the officials.

“At least four kinds of specialists have to be present to hold special medical camps,” said disability commissioner Uma Mukherjee. “But most subdivisional or even district hospitals do not have psychiatrists or clinical psychologists, who are required to identify mental retardation cases.”

Participants at the meet also demanded a monitoring mechanism to ensure that panchayats properly utilise funds that are allocated for the disabled.

“The three per cent resource allocation is usually either not spent at all or spent on other things,” said Tulika Das, a participant from Calcutta.

The officials were asked why even government offices and educational institutions do not have barrier-free access to facilitate the movement of disabled persons.