May 8, 2019
The national capital, New Delhi, goes to the polls on 12 May. Enabling the
Election Commission of India (ECI) to live up to its promise
to ‘Leave No Voter Behind’ is the NGO Svayam, a leading
accessibility organization.
Founded by Sminu Jindal in 2000, Svayam is among the
organizations credited with initiating the conversation around accessibility
at a time when the needs of people with disabilities was largely neglected.
As an NGO partner of the ECI in the inclusive election campaign, Svayam has
helped develop strategies and guidelines to ensure that voting stations are
accessible for people with disabilities. It has also looked at ensuring that
accessible toilets and transport facilities are provided.
Svayam has offered six accessible vans to the Chief Electoral Officer in
partnership with four NGOs, namely Yes We Can, Family of Disabled, Muskaan
and Astha,. These will be deployed in three constituencies in the West,
South and South East, to make sure that people with reduced mobility are
able to go to the polling booths and cast their vote. These vehicles will
be provided free of cost as their contribution for ensuring accessible and
inclusive elections in Delhi. – Sminu Jindal, Founder-Chairperson,
Svayam
To ensure that information about these vans reaches all disabled voters,
Svayam is also running a digital campaign called
#YahanSeWahanTak. “The campaign also talks about the
importance of voting and that lack of accessibility should not stop you from
going out and practice your right”, adds Jindal.
Given that the number of vehicles is just six, ensuring that a city like
Delhi is adequately covered is not easy and Svayam has faced many challenges.
The Delhi government has no accessible cars/vans etc. available either that
can pick up people with reduced mobility from residential areas.
Preeti Johar, Chief Executive Officer, Family of
Disabled, which is among the NGO partners of Svayam says the
organization will use its van to cater to as many disabled people as
possible.
“We are using one van and this will be for people with all types of
disabilities. So far we have not received any request for the West Delhi
region which is where we are registered. Depending on what the nodal officer
tells us, we will dispatch the van”.
NGO Muskaan too is waiting to hear from the election officer
before deciding on where it will place the vehicle. “We have sent word to
the ECI that we have a van available at Deragaon and we will be catering to
voters in that constituency”, says Seema Chaddha, Project Manager
Muskaan. “Once the ECI gives us details, we will send the van to
that area.”
The largest number of vehicles have been allotted to the NGO Yes We
Can but as of now it has no information from the ECI. “We are
catering to Delhi South East”, said Samuel Mani, of Yes We
Can. “We can make the decision once we know”.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/22185
