“Election Commission of India has made Inclusive Elections a key priority for Parliamentary Elections-2019”: Chief Electoral Officer (Punjab) D

Jalandhar: Lovely Professional University organized 5th two-day Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Conference ‘Vistaar- 2019’ at its Baldev Raj Mittal Unipolis, in association with Spinal Cord Injury Association (SCIA). Different sessions of the conference were aimed to sensitize society and involved agencies in adopting corrective, guiding and preventive measures for enabling spinal-cord injury (SCI) affected persons live a normal life in the society. During SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation program) session, especially arranged keeping in view the national festival of elections one and same for all, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO, Punjab) Dr S Karuna Raju IAS addressed 700+ SCI affected persons from 17 states of the country, their care-takers, thousands of LPU students, volunteers and staff members.

Dr Raju informed: “Election Commission of India (ECI) has made ‘Inclusive Elections’ a key priority for on-going parliamentary elections-2019 in the country. Efforts are also made in the state to ensure people with disabilities to vote.” Talking about specially devised PwD (Persons with Disability) Mobile App, it was also informed that the Punjab state election commission (SEC) has extended a pick-and-drop facility to persons with disabilities during the current Lok Sabha elections in the state, where such voters will be picked up from their places. Through this App, disabled people can register for pick up and drop facilities to polling booths. Specially appointed volunteers and officers in bulk number will assist such voters, as each and every vote means much to the healthy democratic set-up of the nation. On this occasion, State Disability Icons Harman Singh Sidhu, Dr Kiran and Joint State Coordinator on Accessible Elections were specially felicitated. On this occasion, many slogans including “My Vote, My Power, I am a responsible voter, No voter to be left behind, Make the disability vote count” were also flashed.

Other prominent personalities that came forward to add significance to the event included ADGP Punjab Arpit Shukla, Member State Advisory Board on Disabilities (Pb Govt) S Dawinder Singh; DC Kapurthala DPS Kharbanda; DC Jalandhar Varinder Kumar; Commissioner Police (Jalandhar) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar; SSP Satinder Singh; SSP Navjot Singh; Lovely Group Chairman Mr Ramesh Mittal; LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal; Head Pingalwara Dr Inderjit Kaur and Leading industrialist Nitin Kohli. Many other Civil Officers, Doctors, NGOs, along with 200 NSS volunteers of LPU participated actively to make the event a great success.

During Doctors’ Session, leading specialists in Neurology, Urology, Nephrology, Spine Injuries, Embryology, and Infertility counselled the affected persons for rehabilitation and inspired them for independent and respect worthy social life. In addition, various problems related to fertility, sexuality, urinary tract infections, pressure sores and other issues related to spine injuries were discussed by renowned doctors from across India, and solutions were offered for tackling individual concerns during the one-to-one interaction session. Spine injuries affected persons, even from far off cities including Hyderabad, Mumbai, had consultations with experts in related fields and received solutions and suggestions to their existing problems.

SCIA President Parvinder Singh Sonu (District Icon) informed: “The main motive of SCIA is to serve as a comprehensive resource centre for individuals affected by spinal cord injury.” SCIA Vice President Davinder Singh (District Icon) shared that SCIA traces people suffering with such injury, make them mobile and live life independently. Appreciating the endeavours of Spinal Cord Injury Association, Chancellor Mr Mittal shared that SCIA is doing a commendable job for the society. Illustrative, LPU has also framed a ‘Free Education’ policy to ease the financial burden of individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). LPU provides 100% scholarship to such students. Many individuals with spinal affliction have already joined LPU and are pursuing their programmes happily. On the inaugural day of the conference various wheel chair games were held where SCI affected persons revealed their zeal to lead a lively, energetic, winning and excelling life. The winners were also awarded with prestigious medals in various categories.