Parliament passed the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act in 1996. Section 33 of the Act says that all Governments must reserve three per cent of departmental vacancies for the disabled -- with the blind, the hearing impaired and those with motor disability being equally represented.

In 1997-1998, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) asked the National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehra Dun to select visually impaired people for vacancies in Group `D' posts. NIVH accordingly interviewed and selected 610 candidates. Balamurali was one of them.

In an official communication dated July 9, 1998 the Ministry urged Chief Secretary B KBhattacharya to see that the selected persons were appointed. However, the directive has remained on paper till date.

``For the past eight months, we have been knocking on the doors of different departments hoping for a solution to our problem,'' Balamurali said. In the beginning, 38 of them met Bhattacharya but were later told their file was with the Social Welfare Department. ``We have been going there every day for our file and the promised appointments. But all that the officials do is ask us to come the next day,'' he said.

National Association for the Blind (NAB) -- an association involved in the scheme -- chief executive officer Gordon Saise told The Indian Express that he and NAB Employment and Placement Officer M Srinivas had recently met Disabled Welfare Director M V Vedamurthy in this connection.

``These candidates need mobility, not special skills for the jobs. NAB will train and orient them once the Government issues appointment orders,'' he said. ``But, Vedamurthy, thoughsympathetic to the candidates' plight, could not tell us whether the Centre or State would be recruiting them or when,'' he said.

Saise said he knew Balamurali very well. ``He was earlier completely blind. An operation has now given him partial vision,'' the CEO said. He said Balamurali should have been absorbed by the people who had trained him.

Vedamurthy attributed the recruitment delay to the fact that NIVH had undertaken the selection on the orders of the Central Ministry. ``NIVH did not seek the State Governments' opinion about their vacancy position, nor did they enquire about their willingness to recruit more people,'' he observed.

``The Centre, instead of shouldering responsibility for the candidates passed them onto the State Governments,'' he said. The Director felt that the candidates should have been posted to Central departments as the selections violated State Government rules.

The director said the Department planned a State-level disabled welfare placement meet in Bangalore next monthto bring together multinational corporations, the labour commissioner, the industries secretary and others to resolve the issue. ``The candidates have waited for three years, surely they can wait another month,'' he added.

But Balamurali says time is running out. ``All of us are in the 35 to 40 age-group. When you cross 40, the employment charter is closed. Once that happens, you won't get this chance in life again,'' is all says as he resigns himself to wait.