BHUBANESWAR: THE State Government has directed all its administrative departments to make office buildings fully accessible for differently-abled persons by June 2019 as per the Supreme Court direction.
This has to be done to comply with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department has issued instructions to all departments which provide public service to make their office buildings fully accessible.
As per the apex court order, all the States must identify Government buildings in their capital cities by February 28 so that they could be made accessible for PWDs. No further extension would be given, an order by Principal Secretary SSEPD Department Niten Chandra said. For retrofitting, the deadline would be December-end.
Similarly, as per the apex court’s direction, the State Government has identified 10 cities and towns where accessibility audit would have to be completed by February-end.Those places are Baripada, Balasore, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Jeypore. The places were identified basing on Census Data 2011. In these cities and towns, retrofitting of the buildings would have to be wrapped up by December 2019.
The SSEPD Department has also directed the Commerce and Transport Department to ensure that all Government buses are made disabled-friendly as per the guidelines. Private operators, too, would have to follow a similar path.The Electronics and Information Technology Department has been asked to ensure that Government websites have accessibility features by March-end. The Supreme Court had directed the Centre and all States to make such provisions and report compliance in three months.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 makes many of the provisions mandatory and judiciable while the apex court is monitoring the implementation. Odisha being a party in two such cases, the SSEPD Department has instructed the administrative departments to take immediate action so that progress report on accessibility for differently-abled persons in public places can be furnished.