KOCHI: For Sivan Sukumaran, the journey from the entrance of the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station to the platform is one fraught with challenges. “The fear is not one induced by my visual impairedness. Instead, of having to depend on others. Especially for me, who has been trained to do all my work without assistance,” says Sivan.
For Hima Manukumar, the difficulty is in navigating the steep rises and descends on her electric wheelchair, especially when boarding a train. “I would need at least four people to help me onto the train. The width of the coach door is also an impediment. In addition, the ramp facilities at the station are awkward. The incline does not allow us to use the ramp effectively. The condition of the toilet facilities is best left unsaid,” Hima says.
According to Section 40 of the Right of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act 2021, the Union government has laid down standards of accessibility for movement, transportation, information and communication for persons with disabilities in rural and urban areas.
Under these rules, formulated as ‘Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility in India 2021’, several initiatives have been taken up such as the ‘Accessible India campaign’. Universal accessibility is also underlined while revamping city infrastructure as per initiatives such as the Smart City projects, in which Thiruvananthapuram finds a place.
Yet, the city’s accessibility quotient is low despite the state government’s ambitious Barrier-Free Kerala claims, says Krishnakumar P S of Mobility in Dystrophy (MIND). The forum has drawn up a report that will soon be presented to the district collector flagging the glaring need for the city to make public places inclusive enough to be accessible by persons with disabilities.
Isolating experiences
“It is not that there are no ramps in public places or transport facilities. But can they be accessed by us is the question,” asks Hima. “We had some KSRTC Volvo buses earlier which had ramp facility, but that’s nowhere to be seen now. In panchayat offices, we have ramps that are either not aligned to the ground properly or at an incline that’s not accessible with our wheelchairs,” she points out.
“There are some private facilities like hospitals and shopping malls which are better off,” she says, adding, “What about government hospitals, schools, colleges, even roads and parks?” Such a state of affairs, she says, isolates persons with disabilities from the larger society.
In December, Hima had even gone to the Nava Kerala Sadas to put forward these issues before the chief minister. “Despite all that, the situation remains the same,” she says.
It reeks of government inefficiency, says Justice S H Panchapakesan, the former state commissioner for persons with disabilities. “As per the Accessible India campaign, the Union government had kept a five-year deadline in 2017 for states to achieve universal accessibility. Kerala has not even completed 5 per cent of the work,” he says.
Though Kerala asked for an extension, the Union government had made it clear that extensions would only be given to those states that are nearing the completion of the required work. “It gave an extension to Tamil Nadu because 85 per cent of the work was done. The situation in other south Indian cities such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad are far better,” he adds.
Barrier-Free project
The Barrier-Free Kerala project, which precedes the RPwD Act as well as the Accessible India campaign in its launch, had embarked on several projects for the capital which was moving in fits and starts. Today, it’s on a standstill, Panchapakesan says. “The RPwD Act also has very stringent statutes concerning the facilities in buildings. If violated, the fine could be anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh,” the former commissioner says.
One of the changes to be brought about to make buildings disabled-friendly is paving the walls with tactile tiles so that visually impaired people can touch them and find their way. The ramp and lift facilities apart, the toilets should be accessible by wheelchairs, should be in Western style and provided with handles and such supports to allow them to be used by disabled persons.
“Not many buildings and public places have it. One improvement at the railway station is the introduction of three special wheelchairs to assist disabled people in boarding the train. Such wheelchairs need to be provided at all major stations,” he says.
Also, a request had gone from the Commissionerate to allow specific timings on certain weekdays to be kept aside for persons with disabilities to access public spots such as the Museum park, the Shankhumukham beach, etc. “But such requests fall on deaf ears,” Panchapakesan says.
Need for awareness
There is a need for heightened awareness among the public as well as the technical staff for the statutes of the RPwD Act to be implemented properly, says Dr Priyanjali Prabhakaran, the in-charge of the Barrier-Free Consultancy Cell, which functions at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.
“We have audited several government buildings for their accessibility quotient such as Vikas Bhavan, Secretariat, etc, and suggested changes. The pandemic did slow down the work, but it is still on,” Priyanjali says.
But what is required is a constructive approach that brings together the public and private players who are providing the required facilities for people. “There has to be awareness about how the buildings have to be fashioned to accommodate the accessibility factor. This has to take place right at the ideation stage. Not many people know about the facilities such as tactile tiles and how they are to be laid. Even visually impaired people don’t have much idea that there are these facilities to aid them. So a proper awareness campaign is needed,” she says.
The Barrier-Free Consultancy Cell has been organising workshops and training sessions for the public as well as for technical staff of government and private enterprises to focus on the guidelines when they plan the facilities. “But people also should cooperate. No point in any facilities coming up when people are not aware of them,” she adds.
But till the time this awareness is complete, the facilities remain inadequate. People like Hima and Krishnakumar now find the cityscape a physical and sensory minefield. They ask: “How soon before facilities are in place?”