NEW DELHI: The Delhi State Commissioner of Person with Disabilities (PWD) has recently passed an order to almost 400 hotel and restaurants stating that they should print menus in Braille for the benefit of the visually impaired.
“All the members which are part of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) have been instructed to implement the order given by the court. Many PwD people who visit hotels maybe alone and Braille would be very helpful. As per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 access to public services is mandatory,” said commissioner T D Dhariyal.
The order further specifies that the Ministry of Tourism should “put together the relevant provisions/requirements/measurement and designs for various facilities in the hotels and restaurants irrespective of their category in a smaller booklet by extracting the same from the Harmonised Guidelines.
The booklet should be uploaded in the website of Ministry of Tourism, FHRAI and each hotel and restaurant and appropriate directives should be issued to every hotel and restaurant owner to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act” said the order.
“This is a very good order, provided that it is implemented with full will by the hotel owners, PwD people face such problems on daily basis, public buildings offering public services should be fully accessible without any hurdle to everyone,” said Ramesh Kumar, visually disabled student.