April 23, 2019
There’s much to look forward to at the new upgraded Chennai airport terminal.
Better facilities and infrastructure that’s disabled-friendly and
accessible.One of India’s biggest airports, Chennai aims to show the way to
others when it comes to inclusion.
Reports are that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is
abiding by the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) in ensuring complete accessibility in the new
terminal. Construction work began last July, and is expected to be completed
in another three years so domestic and international flights can be
accommodated.
Smita Sadasivan, a disability rights activist and member of
the Disability Rights Alliance in Chennai says this is much
needed given how inaccessible the terminals currently are. She says that
apart from facilities, authorities must sensitize the staff as well and all
this must be done taking into account inputs from the community.
Accessibility involves both infrastructure and services. So, if one of them
is not accessible, then the other cannot serve its purpose. Periodic
sensitisation of staff on how to handle or reasonable accommodations for
disabled passengers should go hand in hand. Right now, the Chennai terminal
is not very accessible and the floor is also slippery. Being a silent
terminal, no measures are made to inform visually impaired passengers.
Toilets are not maintained well and are always kept locked. – Smita
Sadasivan, Member, Disability Rights Alliance
An exclusive training session for engineers will be held in Delhi very soon
on how to make the terminal more accessible. This session will also provide
the engineers a platform to understand accessibility in depth and apply the
same in other airports across India.
“In fact, airports in India are disabled-friendly to a large extent. But
there are many things that still need to go into consideration, including
sensitizing ground staff about being disabled-friendly and so on. For
instance, when you are a wheelchair user, you must not be removed from your
wheelchair and shifted to the one from airport. There are many more such
things to be considered. Since this new terminal is planning to be made
accessible, officials must consult disabled people to know their needs”,
says Meenakshi Balasubramanian of Equals Centre for
Promotion of Social Justice.
Once the work for this new terminal is completed, Chennai airport hopes to
accommodate at least 30 million passengers every year.
ALSO READ: Swarga Foundation workshop at Coimbatore airport builds
sensitivity towards needs of disabled travelers
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/22047
