Bhubaneswar: International White Cane Day was observed in Bhubaneswar with visually impaired students taking out an awareness rally on Sunday.
Ashok Panda, Minister of Science and Technology, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability, flagged off the rally that was organised by his department at State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) in the city.
Speaking on the occasion, Panda underlined the importance of the day and said that white stick with red stripes is used to make it more noticeable for easy and free movement of visually impaired persons. The government has implemented “Accessible India” scheme for better mobility of PwDs, he added.
Bishnupada Sethi, principal secretary of the department emphasised on collective effort to enhance safety, security and independence of visually impaired people.
Ollywood actors Pruthwiraj Satapathy, Naina Das and Chandan Kar encouraged the participating students in the rally.
Odisha Association for the Blind in collaboration with SVNIRTAR, Ananda Charitable Trust, Sightsavers India, Shantidham Foundation organised an awareness meeting.
Dillip Kumar Ray, special secretary, Santosh Kumar Pradhan, additional secretary and other officers of the department besides representatives of different NGOs were present in the programme.
