NEW DELHI: Aiming at easy access to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the Centre has directed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to encourage the state governments to adopt accessibility guidelines.
The directions were issued after the review meeting of the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) chaired by Cabinet Secretary. The ministry was further asked to appropriately amend local bylaws to institutionalise easy building access to specially-abled individuals.
Held last month, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) was also asked to explore the possibility of assessing the implementation of accessibility guidelines by an independent agency besides a slew of other recommendations. It was advised to ensure regular follow-ups with the ministries or departments on the compliance.
According to the minutes of the meeting, feedback of bodies representing PwDs should form a key element of independent evaluation and ministries or departments may be ranked based on the assessment.
One of the recommendations made by the committee for the ministries and departments was to mainstream the accessibility guidelines by integrating them into government schemes.
During the review, the panel noted that of the funds for making 1,314 state government buildings accessible, 623 have been made barrier-free. State governments have made 358 of their 2,851 premises accessible with their own resources.
The DEPwD informed that 20 ministries and departments have been given the mandate of preparing sector-specific accessibility guidelines. “Eleven ministries or departments have been notified of their guidelines under Right for Persons with Disabilities (RPwd) rules 2017. The guidelines for three ministries or departments are under process for notification under rule 15 for RPwD rules. The remaining ministries or departments are in the final stages of publication of the guidelines in the gazette,” the minutes said.
However, it informed the panel that while considerable progress has been made in providing accessibility, complaints are still being received particularly with respect to private entities, social media and digital payment sectors.