The Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH) was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons. The AYJNIHH, which is fully funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India and established for assisting the deaf by providing jobs and services, has been turning a deaf ear to their needs.
Such is the state of affairs at the institute that this Wednesday many state associations involved in helping the deaf, assisted by Mr Prasad Salvi and Mr Altaf Khan from the MNS, joined hands and took out a silent morcha to the gates of the institute. This 400 plus assembly handed over a list of thirteen grievances to the Director Dr AK Sinha. What was appalling was the fact that the Director had no answer to most of the grievances put before him.
Instances of high-handedness by the staff, who have no knowledge of sign language or who are inept in dealing with the disabled was a common complaint by most of the deaf. Besides, no deaf have been appointed at the institute in the last 25 years and the incumbents are mostly family members of already existing staff members, who allegedly submit fake education, caste and disability certificates. Even getting an appointment for testing an audiogram is an enormous task with patients being given dates which are up to two months later, and even on the appointed date in some cases, the appointment is deferred. Same is the case with obtaining ear moulds. Rates charged for services are based on the whims and fancies of the officers and there is no clarity or even a rate card provided. In fact, until a while ago, certain services were provided free of cost but not anymore.
With such haphazard management of the institute, it’s not surprising then that this unrest has simmered and spilt over. RTI applications filed with the institute have also yielded ambiguous responses from the PIO and Appellate Authority. An institute that has been set up to assist the disabled is doing just the opposite by creating headaches for them. Mr Prasad Salvi gave the Director fifteen days to address the 13 issues in the letter failing which he would request the Government to initiate a CBI inquiry against the anomalies in the demeanour of the institute.
