Admission to the centre has been suspended due to the dilapidated condition of its building. Without jobs available, the physically-challenged people in the region have been facing difficulties to earn for and manage their families.

According to officials, the government set up the centre with three buildings and three tin-shed houses on 3.59 acres of land at Mulghar village in Fakirhat upazila in the 1981-82 fiscal year with a view to turning disabled people into skilled manpower.  

But, the admission of disabled persons to the centre remained suspended since September 2012 due to the shabby conditions of the buildings and accommodation crisis.

The training activities at the centre started in 1987. All male disabled people, aged 14-24, could avail of the chance to get admitted here except the blind ones. There were three trades -- mechanical workshop, tailoring, and cattle and poultry farming – for which training was provided. Required qualification for training in the first two trades was class five but no specific educational requirement was needed for training on cattle and poultry farming.

Officials at the Department of Social Services of Bagerhat said 30 people in three trades – 10 in each trade -- were trained a year at government expenses. The government bore all their expenditures, including accommodation, dress, treatment facilities, sports and others. After their training, they were supposed to receive Tk 4,000 each as rehabilitation allowance.

Sources said 37 people trained by the centre still did not get their rehabilitation allowance.

Abdus Sattar, a trainer of Mechanical Trade Department of the centre, said the building condition of the centre is not good enough to live in there. Its training programme will resume if the residential building can be rebuilt or a tin-shed building can be constructed. Four staff, out of 11, are now working at this centre, while two are working elsewhere, Sattar said.

Sheikh Khalil Al Rashid, an assistant director of Department of Social Services of Bagerhat who is now in charge of the rural rehabilitation centre, said the authorities have decided to abandon the residential building as it has become risky for living.

The admission of disabled persons to the centre was closed in September 2012 due to accommodation crisis in it, Rashid said. 

Before its closure, he said, a total of 356 physically-challenged people had received training.