Centre tells state to develop disabled-friendly infrastructure

Neena Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 20

The Ministry of Empowerment and Social Justice has asked the Uttarakhand Government to make provisions for the differently-abled at government offices and public places.

With only a single lift installed for the use of differently abled persons at the Secretariat, which houses the Chief Minister’s office, creating a barrier-free environment for the disabled has never been pursued vigorously by the Uttarakhand Government.

“This is our chance to access the funds that the Central Government has decided to allocate to states. We have been asked to earmark buildings to make them differently abled compliant, for which 100 per cent funds would be provided by the Central Government,” said Atul Gupta, Additional Secretary, Department of Social Welfare, who recently attended a meeting called by the Ministry of Empowerment and Social Justice.

This may also include making provisions for more escalators, ramps, asking the Public Works Department (PWD) to implement designs compliant with wheel chairs, vertical and horizontal access, accessible sanitary facilities and signage to assist the visually challenged.

Significantly, while the Centre has issued guidelines to all Central Government offices to create barrier-free environment on their premises, the officials concerned have been slow in implementing the suggestions.

“No audit of government buildings has been carried out by the state and the Centre to ascertain how accessible they are for the differently abled. It will do good for us if these things are taken care of,” said Deepak, father of a differently abled child.

Further, the Central Government is also willing to assist the government in providing devices, such as mobile phone priced at a cost of Rs 2,000 for differently-abled persons. This device is improved from the previous mobile phones as it has built-in features that help the user recognise incoming calls.