Union Minister lays foundation stone for Composite Regional Centre at Y.Pudupatti

Union Minister Virendra Kumar lays foundation for CRC in Madurai, providing comprehensive services for differently abled individuals.

Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar laid the foundation stone for the construction of a Composite Regional Centre (CRC) at Y.Pudupatti in Madurai on Saturday. 

The CRC was previously operating from a temporary building at Villapuram. The new building is to come up on an area of 5.05 acres at a cost of ₹34.61 crore.  

The new building will include various blocks, including service and programme, administrative building, classrooms for HRD programmes and Cross Disabilities Early Intervention Centre (CDEIC) unit.

The building featuring a universally designed structure with barrier-free access for differently abled people will service the southern region of Tamil Nadu. 

Speaking at an event organised for distributing assistance to differently abled people, Mr. Virendra Kumar said “At present, there are 25 CRCs functioning across the country under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. These centres function as decentralised institutions providing comprehensive services such as rehabilitation, education, skill development, and social integration for all categories of disabilities.” 

“Till now, only the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD), Chennai, was providing the essential services, and with the establishment of CRC in Madurai, the specialised services would be expanded to larger parts of the State, enabling differently abled people to receive assistance closer to their homes,” he added. 

Particularly, CDEIC facility at CRC would provide services like early identification and screening of disability, therapeutic services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy and behaviour management, he noted.