PRESSING for their 10-point demands, members of Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) staged a road roko at nearly 100 places across the state on August 25. The protestors said that the state government, besides allocating Rs 5,000 crore for the physically challenged in its budget every year, should extend the monthly assistance of Rs 5,000 for every differently abled person by abolishing its order promulgated on April 14 that stopped the disbursal of monthly assistance to those who were not orphans. Apart from forming a state-level coordination committee and district-level monitoring committees for periodically scrutinising the genuine demands of the physically challenged, monthly grievance meetings should be convened at every revenue division, they said. They also demanded free house sites, a home for the mentally retarded children in each district headquarters and three percent reservation for the differently abled in government employment. As the protestors blocked traffic and burned the copy of the above said GO, the police arrested more than 6000 people with disability including 2500 women and children. Totally more than 10,000 people including care givers participated. At Sankarankovil in Thirunelveli district, nearly thousand people with disability were organised. Here the protest was led by B Janshi Rani, state president of the association. In South Chennai, S Nambu Rajan, state secretary and in Chengalpattu, D Lakshmanan, senior leader led the protest.