CHENNAI: A portion of entrance at the newly inaugurated Pallikaranai eco-park is being demolished to construct a disabled-friendly ramp and railing. Additional Chief Secretary Supriya Sahu, who is also the chairman of governing body of Pallikaranai conversation authority, told TNIE that a social media user pointed out this about two weeks back on Twitter. “I issued directions to correct it immediately. The work on ramp will be completed in a week. It’s our duty to ensure all public buildings are universally accessible.”
On March 15, a disability rights activists Deepaknathan, tweeted with the picture of eco-park entrance saying, “Pallikaranai eco-park entrance has only steps and no ramps! I did wish to go today? Because of steps, I couldn’t go inside! Please help us to access this park too...”. His tweet garnered nearly 900 likes and over 200 retweets. Several people echoed his sentiment and requested Sahu to address the issue.
On Friday, Deepaknathan posted another tweet with pictures of ongoing works expressing happiness for recognising disability sector’s voice and immediate action taken. V Priyadarshini, District Forest Officer, Chennai division told TNIE a lot more disabled-friendly initiatives like braille signage are in pipeline. “There is also a proposal to extend the current 1.7 km eco-park to 5 km.
There are requests for other localities abutting Pallikaranai for similar eco-parks. Survey work is going on to identify suitable locations for eco-development without hampering water inflow into the lake. Every new facility envisaged will be disabled friendly.”