Speakers at a programme yesterday urged the government to increase budgetary allocation for people with disabilities.

And for better results, the budget for the disabled should be allocated under every ministry of the government, they also said.

The recommendations were made at a consultation on "a national budget inclusive of people with disabilities" at the Institute of Education and Research of Dhaka University.

Centre on Budget and Policy of Dhaka University, Democratic Budget Movement and Access Bangladesh Foundation organised the pre-budget citizen's meeting in collaboration with parliamentary caucus on national budget and planning.

General Secretary of Democratic Budget Movement Amanur Rahman presided over the session.

In his keynote paper, Litan Baruri demonstrated that the development activities for the disabled were limited to providing social security benefits under welfare budget, without considering their human rights aspect.

"Although the budget has increased in some sectors compared to the previous years, it is still inadequate. And the budget was not proposed considering the needs of the people with disabilities," said Liton reading out the paper. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, the government must extend its support to the disabled by increasing budget for them and allocating the budget under every ministry, said speakers at the consultation.

The chief guest of the programme, Sushanta Kumar Pramanik, additional secretary (Institutions and Disabilities) to social welfare ministry, assured that the government in its upcoming national budget will consider the recommendations made in the consultation programme.

Assistant Director (Social Welfare and Counselling) ofNational Human Rights Commission Farzana Nazneen Tultul, ADD International Country Director Shafiqul Islam and Executive Director of Women with Disabilities Development Foundation (WDDF) Ashrafunnahar Mishty spoke among others.