Meghalaya: 83% of public offices employ no persons with disabilities

Most government offices in Meghalaya have no employees with disabilities, according to an RTI-based study by the Blind Lead Trust (BLT) released in Shillong on Saturday, October 24.

The trust filed 115 RTI applications, 106 to government departments and nine to educational institutions, and had received all replies by August 25, 2026. Each asked about employment of persons with disabilities (PwDs), backlog vacancies, reservation rosters and the sports quota.

Key findings

• Only 20 of the 115 offices (17 per cent) said they employ any PwDs; 95 (83 per cent) reported none.
• Of 102 offices that answered the employment question, 75 reported zero disabled staff.
• On backlog, 91 of 100 replies claimed no pending vacancies; only three admitted a backlog of one to three posts.
• Only 30 offices replied on rosters, and 23 of them said they had no roster at all. Another 67 gave no response and 14 left the question blank.
• On the sports quota, 91 offices gave no reply or a blank, and 19 reported zero.

The report argues that departments have not kept the mandatory reservation rosters or worked out carried-forward vacancies required under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016. It found only one establishment, the Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, had formally implemented the RPwD Act's requirements.

District picture

East Khasi Hills accounted for 95 of the applications and 16 of the 20 offices that employ PwDs. South Garo Hills, South West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi reported no disabled employees.

The study also flagged barriers in filing RTIs, including unclear filing rules, outdated names of information officers and inaccessible captchas for visually impaired users.

In a separate reply dated September 28, the Social Welfare Department said no dedicated government residential home or vocational training institute for PwDs had been set up between June 2018 and March 2026, and that accessibility audits of digital welfare portals under Section 42 of the RPwD Act were not available.

Demands and warning

Disability groups want backlog vacancies calculated from 1995, reserved posts advertised within three months, special drives to fill at least half the backlog within six months, and publication of 100-point rosters and accessibility audits.

BLT co-founder Jitendra Dkhar said departments report no backlog only because they do not keep statutory rosters, and warned of street protests and an indefinite hunger strike.