18 special buses coming for disabled

The disabled soon will be getting special buses which will be better suited to accommodate their physical challenges. So said Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, the Minister of the People and Social Development, at a function on Sunday to unveil a religious shrine at Palmiste, central Trinidad. Ramadharsingh’s comments were prompted by earlier remarks at the function from Iqbal Hydal, a Muslim imam who had expressed disappointment that the Ministry of Transport was not moving fast enough to put into service buses for the disabled. But the minister said the Government had procured 18 buses for physically-challenged people and they were due to arrive shortly and urged patience. The buses are expected to be placed in service by the Public Service Transport Corporation (PTSC). Ramadharsingh said it was easy for people to criticise the Government and grumble that nothing was being done. 

 

He said it was Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who ensured each child who passed the the SEA exam received a laptop computer. He said there was a time in the recent past when only the wealthy could afford laptops. 

Ramadharsingh said it was the PP Government who had the vision to start the Children’s Life Fund, which paid for medical treatment. He called on citizens to look at the examples of more established countries and the historical role of their development and made the observation that lazy people could not move forward. He said people must work hard, be motivated and patient and create the change they wanted to see rather than complain and foster what he called a “bacchanal society.” Ramadharsingh also attempted to answer his critics who complain about the grants given to the needy by the Government. He said people living in depressed communities would have no alternative but to turn to a life of crime if not given hope, encouragement, training and employment opportunities.