THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The district has finally taken baby steps to make it accessible for persons with disabilities (PwD). The initiative will be carried out as part of the Accessible India Campaign of the Department of Empowerment of PwD under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The programme that envisages retrofitting work at 51 public institutions in the district is expected to be carried out in two phases under the monitoring of the state Social Justice Department.
“In the first phase, we have decided to carry out retrofitting work at 28 government institutions,” an officer of the SJD told Express. “Though the Department of Empowerment of PwD has sanctioned an amount of Rs 8.59 crore, it has only released Rs 4.29 crore as first instalment,” the officer said.
According to the officer, the retrofitting work in 51 buildings is based on an access audit report furnished by Samarthyam (National Centre for Accessible Environments), a research organisation working for PwD.
“The execution of the said works has been entrusted with the Public Works Department and they were given three months to complete it,” said the officer.
At the same time, SJD authorities said in the second phase, as many as 23 government institutions in the district will be converted as barrier-free ones and for the same, an access audit report along with a proposal will have to be submitted to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
“Along with the programme of converting the buildings accessible for PwD, initiatives were also being chalked out for remodelling the parks, museums and zoos and State Commissionerate for PwD as barrier-free ones,” said an SJD officer. Meanwhile, it is learnt the SJD along with the Home Department is giving shape to a major initiative so as to convert the traffic intersections in the district as smart ones that are specially designed for pedestrians who are differently abled.