No ramps, Dinanagar SDM complex remains out of bounds for disabled

The Dinanagar SDM complex, inaugurated by AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann two years ago, doesn’t have ramps nor lifts, leaving the disabled in the lurch.

The development contravenes Article 41 of the Constitution that states that the state will make effective provisions for the disabled. The design of the building also goes against the provisions of the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) launched in December 2015. AIC mandates that buildings and transport facilities should be disabled-friendly.

Nobody had any inkling that the building was unfit for the disabled till social activist Sunil Dutt raised the issue. He subsequently wrote to the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Social Security, and the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Gurdaspur.

In March last year, the Chief Commissioner wrote to the Gurdaspur authorities to make the building accessible for the disabled within four months. Nine months had elapsed ever since the orders were passed, yet nothing tangible had been done in that regard, Dutt said.

The Chief Commissioner had also ordered that the offices of patwaris and other public dealing officers should be shifted to the ground floor from the second floor. That anomaly has also not been rectified so far.

Around 75 per cent of the visitors coming to the office need to meet patwaris. In all other districts of Punjab, these revenue officers have their offices at the ground floor.

How will the authorities proceed is anybody’s guess as sources reveal it is impossible to make any structural changes at this stage.

DC Uma Shankar Gupta said he was apprised of the problem. “Ramp and lift will be in place soon. I have written to the Financial Commissioner to give us the required money,” he said.

Recently, a 74-year-old man, who was forced to use the staircase to visit the office of a patwari said, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination.” He is indeed a man whose ability outsmarts his disability. The problem is that such disabled people fall in the rare category. Not many can climb the stairs and hence have a harrowing time in getting their work done.