July 31, 2019
Lack of accessibility of public transport has been a major issue for
people with disabilities. Despite many petitions, court orders and appeals,
public buses remain out of reach for wheelchair users. Now a new policy draft
by the Road Transport Ministry has raised new hopes that the scenario may
change.
A first of its kind draft norm by the Ministry of Road
Transport has come out with concrete measures to make public
transport accessible for people with disabilities. Regarding public buses,
the draft says bused with a seating capacity of over 13 people must have
ramps for wheelchair users.
It also says that all buses will have to include seats with priority signs
for easy access for disabled travellers, railings, handrails, walkers,
support bars, etc. The measures have raised much hope in the disabled
community, which has been pushing for them.
“It is heartening to see that the Central government is planning a model
guideline on accessible buses”. says disability rights advocate Nipun
Malhotra. As CEO of Nipman Foundation, Nipun works
closely on accessibility-related issues, conducting sensitisation programmes
in government offices and audits.
He believes that if followed through in practice, the policy will help ensure
that buses across India are accessible. “Governments like the Delhi
government who was deciding to buy inaccessible buses, will not be able to
repeat those kind of things”, he adds. In Delhi, Nipun was forced to file a
PIL in the matter and the court ruled in his favour. “The RPWD Act mandates
that public transport should be accessible so I am glad that buses throughout
the country, if the guideline is implemented, will be following the Act”.
Mumbai professional Jasmina Khanna, a wheelchair user, who
has been closely mapping accessibility features in some city wards, also
hopes the policy will go beyond paper.
It’s great that it has found place in policy, but implementation is the
question mark, always. Ramps are fine but there have to be pavements that
are accessible for them to be placed. Look at Mumbai and you will barely
find such pavements. Supporting infrastructure has to be looked at as well.
– Jasmina Khanna, Senior Systems Engineer
The scepticism is understandable given that many such measures have been
announced in the past but have failed to live up to their promise. Take
Mumbai, where the BEST Undertaking launched wheelchair
accessible buses. “They launched the buses but the frequency was so poor that
they were not available when people needed them”, points out Jasmina. ‘So,
all these things need to be looked into as well”.
The draft also states that vehicles have to get fitness certification and
this has to be renewed every year. Apart from the fitness of the vehicle,
there’s also a need for sensitisation sessions.
“Both the driver and conductor should be well trained to support people with
all kinds of disabilities”, says Karnal-based innovator Dr Riitesh
Sinha. “Another step that is needed to make the policy effective is
to ensure bus stops are designed in an accessible manner. Recently, the
Gurugram administration introduced Gurugaman buses with ramps,
but there is no way for a wheelchair person to reach the bus stop”.
The Ministry also says that where ramps cannot be built, human assistance
should be made available for disabled passengers. Audio-visual information
systems for visually impaired people and deaf travellers, emergency buttons
near disabled seats are some other recommendations.
Under the Accessible India Campaign, creating universal
accessibility for persons with disabilities is binding upon governments, at
the Centre and states. However, performance on this count has been mostly
disappointing. Will the policy draft bring in winds of change? Only time will
tell.
