Dehradun: After questions were raised on the certificates of Maharashtra cadre trainee Pooja Khedkar, now Uttarakhand IAS officer Nitika Khandelwal is in the news regarding her disability certificate. People are making a video viral on social media, in which questions are being raised about her disability. In a statement to the media, Khandelwal says that some people are falsely circulating an excerpt of the video uploaded on her YouTube channel on 13 November 2019.
In the video circulated on social media, it is being claimed that Nitika has been selected in the visually impaired (VI) category of the 2015 batch. In the video, she is seen giving a driving test on a simulator, in which users allege that why she has not been wearing glasses despite being visually impaired. She is being continuously trolled on social media for this.
The media called Nitika to get information in this matter but she did not respond. However, in a statement given to the media, she said that if the matter of an alleged fake certificate has come into the headlines, it does not mean that people should judge all the disabled people. There are many people who have struggled to pass the UPSC despite their disability. They have worked really hard. There should not be a media trial of all the disabled.
She told the media that this video is of her inspection of the office of ARTO Roorkee. She was the SDM there then. This video is still available on her channel with the heading RTO Driving Test, which has been seen by about 19 lakh people. She told the media that there can be many types of problems. She knows how much she can see and how much she cannot. If she is doing something or watching TV without glasses, then only she can understand what kind of problem she is facing. The medical board gives a certificate for this. Therefore, the board is accountable. How can people expect that if someone has a disability, it should be shown? If someone has a problem and it is not visible, then it cannot be detected.
Nitika Khandelwal is suffering from this disease
IAS Nitika Khandelwal is suffering from cone rod dystrophy disease. This is a serious eye disease. In this, a person’s eyesight can be completely lost over time. In this, the light-sensitive cells of the retina gradually start deteriorating. It is said that this disease occurs in one out of 40 thousand people.
