more-in KOCHI: Over 100 differently-abled persons within the Muvattupuzha Regional Transport Office limits are likely to benefit from a medical board sitting to be convened exclusively for fast-tracking formalities for issuing driving licences to them. The sitting will be held at the Muvattupuzha mini civil station on August 23. It will be the first such sitting to be held in the district after similar camps in Kannur, Malappuram, and Idukki. District Medical Officer N.K. Kuttappan has assigned the services of six specialist doctors – ENT, ortho, physician, ophthalmologist, optometrist, and psychiatrist – for the meeting. “The focus of the sitting will be on clearing the backlog of potential applications for driving licence from the differently abled,” said District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla. Apart from certificates issued by the medical board, the differently abled will have to produce certificates proving their fitness to drive the vehicles of their choice. “Driving licence is not issued based on the degree of disability, since that could be a faulty consideration when it comes to driving. So, in rare cases, we reject applications of the differently abled even if they produce fitness certificates. In such cases, applicants often insist that they are confident of handling vehicles, but we find them incapable of living up to it,” said A.K. Sasikumar, Regional Transport Officer, Muvattupuzha. According to him, the number of differently-abled applicants is few and far between except when specially-designed two-wheelers are distributed to them under government schemes. The number of applicants for four-wheeler licence is even fewer. “The basic features of four-wheelers cannot be tinkered with to make them differently-abled friendly, whereas retrofitting components is permissible. Even such a provision is missing in the Central Motor Vehicles Act but is allowed under special guidelines issued by the government,” Mr. Sasikumar said.

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