Visiting public places in city a challenge for disabled : Chandigarh

As soon as Rajinder Kumar gets down from his four-wheeler Activa, he is carried to the 'Auto Pre-Paid Booth' by an auto driver at the stand. It is perhaps the only time that the physically challenged Kumar needs help to carry on with basic errands.

"I had to crawl on my hands to make it to the Aadhar Card registration queue in the Sector 15 Sampark Centre," says the 33-year-old who lost both legs to polio.The unavailability of wheelchair ramps has often made me walk on my hands at various public offices, he adds.

With many parks in the city having single-entry revolving gates and almost every other post office with no ramps, simple tasks like going for a walk or posting a letter is a big challenge for the physically disabled population in Chandigarh. A visit to the post offices in Sector 17, Sector 19 and Sector 27 makes the picture clear.

The senario is same with bigger and important offices also. While the Municipal Corporation building's one ramp is filled with renovation material for past two months and the other ramp's entrance serves as a parking spot for two wheelers, the authorities have chalked out no alternatives for disabled. Even the Punjab and Haryana High Court has only one ramp for handicaps in the entire complex except for the one in the the main building. The entrance of the ramp also serves as a parking spot for scooters and has an uneven base to make things worse.

"I cant take a stride in my Sector's park though it has already been renovated thrice this year. Till now no provisions have been made for the entry of people on wheelchairs or crutches. Yet we the best 'planned city' in the country" laments a much anguished Harman Singh Sidhu, a neck-below paralysed IT entrepreneur.


Source : The Indian Express , 2nd August 2013