Seat of power a hurdle for disabled - CHENNAI

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Without basic facilities, the Secretariat is largely inaccessible

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Activists point out the lack of reserved parking for disabled persons, which forces them to park in the general lot on the opposite side of the road

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Over a decade ago, the State government had made it mandatory for all buildings under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to be disabled-friendly.

In 2013, a government order detailed rules for the provision of special facilities — including ramps, lifts, handrails, toilets and reserved parking — for the disabled in multi-storeyed buildings. In its 2014 election manifesto, the AIADMK stated: “a time-bound programme will be launched to ensure the accessibility of public buildings to differently abled persons by provision of ramps.”

And yet, the Tamil Nadu government’s seat of power, the Secretariat, remains largely inaccessible, say activists.

“It starts with the parking. Since there is no reserved parking for disabled persons, we have to park in the general lot on the opposite side of the road, then cross over, get a pass at a counter that is not disabled-friendly, and then enter,” said T.M.N. Deepak, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Federation Charitable Trust, who uses crutches.

B. Meenakshi, of Equals, Centre for Promotion of Social Justice, said that, though there was a ramp at one gate, access was not provided in all the parts of the building. “Many of the rooms to the secretaries and ministers have steps at their entrance. Sometimes, we have to ask them to come down to meet us as we can’t reach their rooms. The toilets, too, are not accessible,” she said.

For B. Sunder, of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, another huge issue is the insensitivity displayed by police and security personnel. “There are no clear directions for access anywhere, and the police keep shooing you. Even to get to the part of the building that has a ramp, we had to plead with the police to help us. For someone in a wheelchair, it is extremely difficult. It feels like disabled residents are unwanted there,” he said.

Besides the State’s own rules, the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, also states that all public places like government offices, bus and railway stations, parks and courts have to be made barrier free. India is also a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure “persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications”.

State commissioner for the disabled, K. Manivasan, said the Secretariat was an old building with limited space, but steps would be taken to make it disabled-friendly.

“What we want to popularise is the concept of universal design, of making sure every building is built to be accessible to all. There is a lot of work to do but we are in the process of making public buildings more disabled-friendly,” he said.

Source : The Hindu , 22nd Sep 2014