Delhi Govt. told to work towards disabled-friendly transport
Posted June 10th, 2008 in access guides, general news and helpful informationNEW DELHI: Physically challenged persons in the Capital who are unable to use public transport in its prevalent form will soon have access to disabled-friendly means of travel. The Union Urban Development Ministry has asked the Delhi Chief Secretary to draw up a road map for making public transport in the city disabled-friendly.In a letter shot off by the Ministry, attention has been drawn to the challenges that the disabled face while using public transport. Union Urban Development Secretary M. Ramachandran, who is also the chairperson of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, has said in the letter: “It is often noticed that various road infrastructure including pedestrian paths, pedestrian crossings, bus stations, buses, etc., are not properly designed so as to be accessible to physically challenged persons thereby rendering their movement extremely difficult.”
“Even after thirteen years of passing of the Act by Parliament, the implementation in the field is not significant,” he lamented.
To make road infrastructure and transport projects easily accessible for the physically challenged, the Secretary has suggested that the State Government “either design a special bus service for physically challenged persons on the lines of ‘Dial-a-Bus’ service in the United States of America or make all the buses physically challenged-friendly.”
