Railways to make 3000 special bogies for disabled persons

The Railways will make 3,000 special bogies for "divyangs" (persons with disabilities) by 2018 to make their travel comfortable and hassle-free, an official said on Tuesday. These bogies will have various facilities to ensure the differently abled passengers or "divyangs" have smooth train travel, said Kamlesh Pandey, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) in Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, he said the special bogies will be interlinked, will have more seats, space and signage to locate them. Pandey is in Nagpur for a review meeting of welfare schemes launched for "divyangs" in Nagpur district. This initiative has been taken to make rail travel more convenient for divyangs, he added. Pandey informed that around 180 Government buildings in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur will be made accessible to divyangs with various facilities like ramps, lifts and disable -friendly sound system.

The project has been sent to the Central Government for approval, he said. "Earlier, there were seven categories of persons with disabilities in the Disability Act, 1995. Now 21 more categories have been included in the Act. These include mental illness, thalassemia, dwarfness and acid burn," Pandey said. "Similarly, reservation in these categories have been increased from 3 per cent to 4 per cent," he added.

Source : DNA , 3rd Jan 2017