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Railway Minister promises to address the problems faced by passengers with disabilities in Indian Railways

Dear Readers,

Representatives of 17 organisations working among the disabled in the India, met the Union Railway Minister Shri Dinesh Trivedi on September 28, 2011 to draw attention to the problems faced by passengers with reduced mobility, the elderly in general and those with disabilities in particular, while travelling with the Indian Railways.

 The delegation inter alia demanded extension of e-booking facility for the disabled, extension of concessions on tickets to all categories of disabilities enshrined in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. They also demanded that concessions be provided in local and passenger trains as well, as was being provided in long distance trains.

“I find no reason why it can not be extended to persons with disabilities if it can be conveniently extended to other passengers. In fact, it is the disabled who require it most!”, expressed the Hon’ble Minister.

The members of the delegation pointed out that railway stations continues to be inaccessible despite legal mandate resulting in multiple barriers for persons with reduced mobility in using them. Ramps  were rare and that too limited for entry to the first platform in big stations while there was no access to the other platforms if it were more than two. Ramps lead to the foot over-bridges which can not be climbed by persons with reduced mobility.

It was pointed out to the Minister that the Platforms do not provide accessible entry to the train. The gap (height) between the platform and the coach varies from station to station and there is no provision of ramps. There is not enough space for mobility inside the coaches. Toilets cannot be used by persons with certain disabilities. In this light, they demanded that the railways should set up a task force on access and go in for universal design. They also demanded that battery operated cars now provided at some stations should be made available at all major stations and platforms.

The Hon’ble Minister suggested that they would consider placing a mobile ramp in front of the coach designated for the disabled so that they could conveniently use the coach specially reserved for them in the long distance trains.

The delegation also pointed out that for the past many years the railways have not made recruitment to fill the 3 per cent quota for disabled persons mandated by the PWD Act. In the matter of promotions also, despite court orders, reservations in promotions are not being implemented.  It was also brought out that employees acquiring disability during  their service who are protected under Section 47 of the the Act were silently being accommodated against the minimum 3% reserved employment quota which was against the mandate of the Persons with disabilities Act 1995.  They urged upon the minister to fill the backlog both in employment and promotions without delay and implement the reservation policy as per the mandate of the law.

Mr. Dinesh Trivedi gave a patient hearing to the delegation. He assured the delegation to consider their demands sympathetically. He also stressed the need for the railways being more sensitive to the issues of the disabled.

The delegation was led by Ms.Brinda Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and ex member of parliament and comprised of Mr. Muralidharan, Assistant Convener of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled, Mr. Rajive Raturi of the Human Rights Law Network, Mr. Subhash Chandra Vashishth of Svayam, Mr. Abdool Mabood of Snehi amongst others. They submitted a memorandum to the minister, in which they welcomed the decision to extend concessions to the disabled in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains. This was one of the demands that was raised with the ministry earlier. However, many other issues continue to remain unaddressed. Some urgent issues mentioned in the memorandum are as follows:

Concessions

 (i)   Extend concession to all trains: The railways have been providing concessions for disabled persons in mail and express trains, which now has been extended to Rajdhani and Shatabdi also. But the concession is not provided in local and passenger trains and the Garib Rath. We request that concessions be provided on these trains also.

(ii)  Validity of disability certificates:  Currently, a separate certificate has to be obtained for availing railway concession. The railways should accept disability certificates or cards as valid proof of the disability of the concerned person and do away with the requirement of a separate certificate.

(iii) Travelling without Escorts: Except for visually impaired persons and the hearing and speech impaired, currently all other disabled persons have to invariably travel with escorts if they have to avail concession. This restricts their right to travel.  All disabled persons who are capable of travelling independently like persons with locomotor disabilities should be allowed to travel with or without escort.

(iv) Concession to mentally disabled persons: People with mental illness are included in the PWD Act but they are not provided concessions in the railways. All those classified as disabled in the PWD Act should be provided concession in the railways.

(v) Concession on tatkal tickets: The usual concession given on other tickets should also be provided for bookings made under tatkal.

E-booking facility

E-booking facility should be extended to the disabled. In fact they require it more than non-disabled persons. As is done in the case of senior citizens, the TTE can verify the proof (disability certificate) during the course of the journey.

Coach for disabled

Most of the time the coach reserved for the disabled is occupied by other non-disabled travellers, railway employees and even RPF personnel in connivance with and often due to lack of proper enforcement. It should be ensured that the coach be placed next to the guard’s coach and a disability sensitive attendant be provided in these coaches to ensure that none other than disabled persons and their escorts are allowed in the reserved coach.

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act of 1995 mandates railway stations and coaches to be made barrier free. Its implementation, however, has been disappointing.Tactile marking should be made on the platform to guide blind persons to the exit, bridges, stairs, ticketing counters etc. Tactile markings should also be provided on the edges of the platforms. Platform numbers should be labelled in Braille both at the entry/exit points as well as on the railing of the foot over bridge. Train coaches need to be re-designed to cater to the needs of the disabled persons. 

Sensitizing railway staff

The disabled encounter a lot of problems at railway counters.  There is a need to sensitise all personnel working in the railways, especially those dealing directly with travellers, on issues connected with disability.

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Ahmedabad BRT wins Sustainable Transport Award at Washington

Taking learnings from Delhi BRT, Gujarat has successuly implemented its BRT which has got accolades from Transport Research Bureau, Washington and recently awarded Sustainable Transport Award.

Here is the coverage:

This report is also available at: http://uttipec.nic.in/writereaddata/mainlinkFile/File206.doc

In 3 months, Ahmedabad BRT a winner

Source: The Times of India dated 21.01.2010
              
Ironed Out Delhi Flaws To Notch Up Ridership Of 35,000, Wins International Acclaim
Megha Suri Singh | TNN

New Delhi: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) are dreaded words in the capital but the urban transportation concept has become immensely popular in Ahmedabad since the pilot corridor is nothing like its Delhi counterpart. In fact, they have learnt from Delhi’s mistakes to make it a successful venture. 
    The three-month-old corridor introduced all that Delhi lacked — it was started with Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled buses, a passenger information system (PIS) and closed bus shelters with smart-card based ticketing at the bus-stops and not inside buses. The first corridor was planned in ‘‘lowdensity areas’’ and operated free for people for the first two months.

Ahmedabad BRT

    When Delhi’s tryst with BRT began almost two years ago, with trial runs on the pilot 5.8-km stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand, the irritants were congestion in the car lane which was squeezed to just two lanes, signal cycles going for a toss with long waiting time at intersections, bus shelters located at crossings adding to the chaos and a long waiting time for buses. In Ahmedabad, the BRT corridor stretches over 16.5 km in an area which, unlike congested south Delhi, is still being developed by the government.
    “There are large tracts of open space along the corridor and offices are being developed along them. This is a transit-oriented model of development where transportation has come first and development later,’’ said an official. The average traffic counts at intersections are just 3000-4000 PCUs hourly as against Delhi BRT where some intersections have counts as high as 20,000-30,000 PCUs per hour. It is a closed BRT system. So, the buses don’t go out and other buses are not allowed in. The buses are fitted with devices which signals can read and give them free passage. The Intelligent Traffic Signals (ITS) system planned for the Delhi corridor is yet to come up.
    The bus-stops are located 200 metres before the intersections and have platform screen doors operated by sensors to prevent people from getting hit by buses passing by. The doors open when a bus arrives and all buses, standard floor ones, stop in perfect alignment with the bus shelters. Delhi spent much more on buying low-floor buses to provide stepless entry to people, but even two years later, drivers seldom stop the bus in alignment with the platform.
    ‘‘We started with a ridership of 17,000 people daily in October last year. This has grown to 35,000 in three months,’’ said Prof Shivanand Swamy of CEPT University, Ahmedabad, which conceptualised the BRT model.
    It recently got the Sustainable Transport Award by Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in Washington.

SERVING ITS PURPOSE The BRT corridor stretches over 16.5 km in Ahmedabad and has Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled buses, a passenger information system (PIS) and closed bus shelters with smart-card based ticketing at bus-stops and not inside buses. It’s also located in an area that is not densely populated.

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Lack of Pedestrian infrastructure turns the Delhi’s roads to be the deadliest

Dear Friends,

“Priority for the Pedestrians”  is a policy that all developed nations have adopted unequivocally for they consider every life important. Its not that Indian cities do not value the lives of their citizens but the pedestrian policy is just missing. On the other hand its the Car and other personal vehicles that get advantage over pedestrians.

Many argue that it is because those who make policy are car users and while making policy the general public is not consulted. But today the awareness is growing. Not only there is a need to discipline the traffic and orient them with “Pedestrian first” policy but also the pedestrian need to be disciplined.

However, the general argument put forward is that if there is no pedestrian infrastructure and roads are being continuously widened to accommodate the vehicles, where do the pedestrians go?

The rising number of accidents and majority of them being the pedestrian indicates the repurcussions of not having a pedestrian friendly infrastructure in place. The recent news report below sums up the death figures from National Crime Records Bureau.

regards

Svayam Team

Delhi’s Roads are the Deadliest

Delhi is the most unsafe city in India for pedestrians, government records show. The latest ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India – 2008’ report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) says as many as 589 pedestrians were crushed to death on the Capital’s roads in 2008.

More people die on Delhi’s roads than any other Indian city of comparable size; in fact, Mumbai, with 3.6 million more people than Delhi, has only around half the number of road fatalities – 302.

So widespread is the problem of road accidents and deaths in the Capital that pedestrian fatalities outnumber murders (528 in 2008).

Overall, road accidents, including those involving two-, three- and four-wheelers, claimed 2,098 lives.

Which means close to 30 per cent of all road accident fatalities were pedestrians – nearly four times the national average of 8.7 per cent.

It is not just vehicles that kill pedestrians in Delhi. In 2008, open pits and manholes claimed 21 lives, the report says. Two-wheeler accidents accounted for 554 deaths on Delhi’s roads, while 151 people travelling in fourwheelers died in 2008.

Delhi is geographically much smaller than Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. But in terms of the number of accidental deaths on the roads, Delhi is close to them. The pedestrian death figures for Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat are 662, 591 and 640 respectively.

More alarmingly, the report states, Delhi accounted for 29 per cent of all pedestrian deaths recorded in 35 Indian megacities that have a population of one million or more.

For instance, only 52 pedestrians died in Hyderabad in 2008, 74 in Bangalore, 29 in Pune, 62 in Jaipur and 71 in Nagpur for the same period. Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad were the safest cities in India for pedestrians – not a single death was recorded in these cities in 2008.

The NCRB report shows that nearly a third of the deaths occur in the six- hour period between 6 pm and midnight, making pedestrians vulnerable at night.

Nationally, though, most road accidents take place between 3 pm and 6 pm.

A Delhi Traffic Police official said the remarkable increase in the number of cars in Delhi and the shrinking space for pedestrians is partly to blame for rising road accident deaths.

The NCRB report cites statistics provided by the ministry of road transport and highways – Delhi had nearly 4.5 million motor vehicles as on March 31, 2008. This figure has only gone up since.

Drivers are indisciplined too, the official said. According to the Delhi Police, 2.12 lakh people were caught for over- speeding in 2009, and another 6.17 lakh were caught jumping traffic lights. An unbelievable 12,109 drunk drivers were penalised in 2009.

Drink driving is another issue that the Capital is grappling with; it is a problem that claimed 2,165 lives in 2009, a Delhi Police official said. An NCRB official said it has information that pedestrian fatalities in Delhi are further up in 2009.

Dr S. Gangopadhyay, director, Central Road Research Institute, feels pedestrian facilities in Delhi leave much to be desired. “In developed countries, pedestrians are given the top priority,” he said.

“This is missing in Delhi. There are zebra crossings but most people don’t use them, most signals do not work. Worse, rash driving leads to high pedestrian deaths.” There are other faults that Delhi has, he said. Delhi may have constructed subways and foot- overbridges (FOBs) for pedestrians, but security inside the subways – especially for women – is a problem after dark. “Several pedestrians, including most women, refuse to use them due to security issues,” he said.

Rohit Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), said Delhi is a plain case of “near negligible” pedestrian facilities leading to the high fatalities.

“If there are adequate pedestrian facilities for safe walking, the casualties will come down,” he said. “Footpaths in Delhi do not support carefree walking as they are encroached upon mostly by parked vehicles. Hence, the pedestrian is forced to walk on the carriageway and risk his life.

Wherever pedestrian crossings exist, drivers don’t respect them.” He added: “At cross paths where there are no traffic signals, pedestrians have the right of way, but no one respects it. It is unfortunate that the government too has given emphasis only on motor transport and not to pedestrians.” Baluja said with the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, Delhi’s pedestrian facilities would be put to the test once the thousands of foreign tourists arrive.

“We are building pedestrian facilities now only because of the Games, while other countries do not wait for a mega event to something as basic as this.”

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Winter Olympic Games 2010, a catalyst in making Vancouver an accessible city

Dear Friends,

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games scheduled to be held in Vancouver are proving to be a catalyst for change. Making the city and sports facilities accessible to people with disabilities.

“We are using the Games as a driver to get people thinking about how to make (Vancouver) one of the most accessible places in the world.” says Bruce Dewar, CEO of a Vancouver not-for-profit society called 2010 Legacies Now.

Click here to read from source

Here is the detailed news

Vancouver’s hosting of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is benefitting one very deserving group of travellers: Those with disabilities.

“The Games are a catalyst for change of the very best kind,” says Bruce Dewar, CEO of a Vancouver not-for-profit society called 2010 Legacies Now. “We are using the Games as a driver to get people thinking about how to make (Vancouver) one of the most accessible places in the world.”

With an estimated one in eight people worldwide living with a disability, and $13 billion being spent annually in North America by travellers with disabilities, Vancouver has tagged the group as one of the fastest growing market opportunities in the world.

The city’s plan to make itself more accessible began as far back as 2006 when then Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan participated in the closing ceremonies of Torino’s Olympic Winter Games. The image of Sullivan, a person with quadriplegia, spinning in his wheelchair with the Olympic flag fluttering overhead symbolized Vancouver’s commitment to adapting itself for disabled travellers.

Vancouver started by developing a city-wide program that helps businesses fulfill criteria in accessibility assessment. The goal of participating businesses (such as attractions and restaurants) is to earn the right to display icons that address their wheelchair accessibility, visual accessibility, and hearing accessibility. The program also helps provide clear and consistent information to travellers with disabilities.

Tourism Vancouver got into the game next by adapting its website. Visitors searching for accommodation on TourismVancouver.com can now search specifically for accessible accommodation listings. And a number of attractions, such as Vancouver Aquarium and the Museum of Vancouver, feature their accessibility icons and information on their Tourism Vancouver listing.

With the hosting of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games on the horizon, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) also threw its hat into the rings. YVR is claiming it now exceeds national standards for people with hearing, visual or mobility impairments. Features include ticket and service counters with amplified handsets, low-mounted flight information monitors, visual paging monitors and public address systems displayed in written form, information kiosks with closed-captioned decoders, as well as accessible washrooms.

YVR’s airport vehicle rental agencies are now equipped to provide cars with hand-controls, while the YVR Airporter (yvrairporter.com) shuttle bus service can arrange transportation to Vancouver’s major hotels. Accessible cabs are also available at the airport.

Vancouver’s swift new Canada Line — the train that transports travellers from the airport to various points throughout the city — has designed its stations to be wheelchair-accessible, and every Canada Line train can accommodate four wheelchairs.

Finally, one especially heart-warming aspect of this Olympic legacy is the building of three accessible playgrounds to enable all children, including children with disabilities, to play side-by-side. The 2010 Legacies Now group partnered with Shane’s Inspiration, a not-for-profit organization, to build accessible playgrounds in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler.

Vancouver’s playground will be located at Kitsilano Beach Park. Richmond’s along the Middle Arm Waterfront Greenway, close to the Olympic Oval. And the Whistler playground, already open, is next to Celebration Plaza, where the Whistler-won Olympic medals are being awarded.

“The part of this project that excites me the most is how tourism has embraced it,” says 2010 Legacies Now’s Dewar. “The Games are the tipping point and things will carry on from here.”

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Disability Advocates demand access to Bus Depots in Gujarat

Gujrat has taken lead in developing socially inclusive infrastructure like BRT and Metro and the pace of growth is quite remarkable. However, it necessary that the existing bus Q shelters are also retrofitted with barrier free features to enable passengers experiencing disabilities to use these services on an equal basis with others. Also the existing fleet needs to be gradually replaced with accessible buses with proper access from Bus Depots and Q shelters.

Gujarat has set successful examples of Public private Partnership and there is no reason why PPP can be availed to improve accessibility at GRSTC BUS Depts!

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Click here to read from source

Funds crunch makes GRSTC bus depots disabled-unfriendly
29 Jun 2009, 0049 hrs IST, TNN

Gandhinagar : Of the 125 Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) bus depots in the state, facilities for the physically-challenged at 104 are missing. A slope which is mandatory at each bus stop to facilitate the differently-abled board the vehicle comfortably is not in place.

GSRTC officials say it is the dearth of funds which a big hurdle in providing such facilities.

The matter was taken up recently by the Disability Advocacy Group during a meeting with RM Patel, principal secretary, labour and employment department, who also holds the additional charge of disabled commissioner. The representatives of the group demanded that there should be an adequate arrangement for the physically-challenged to get into a bus easily and get down from them as well.

During the meeting, PK Patel, chief traffic & commercial manager, said there were slopes at 21 bus depots for the physically-challenged. He added at the remaining 104 depots, there was no provision for slopes and fund crunch was a big hindrance. The commissioner directed GSRTC to allocate funds and set a deadline for making slopes at all these depots.

Pradeep Anjaria, a commuter, said, “The buses are designed in such a manner that it becomes difficult for the physically-challenged to get inside them. The entrance of these buses are L-shaped and hence they cannot board the bus easily.”

He said in absence of a slope, one has to first lift the physically-challenged person and take him on the platform and then take his wheelchair in. They also find it difficult to get into a bus as there is no separate lane for them to board a bus.

Ranjit Gohil, who was present at the meeting, said, “The physically-challenged are provided host of facilities in many countries. But in India, laws are not enforced properly. One needs to ensure implementation of these laws without fail.”

Gohil said the situation of the railways is no better. He has filed a complaint against the railways stating that it does not have any facility for physically-challenged passengers to move from platform 1 to 12. He said there is a slope for entry to platform 1 only. The lifts which are installed at the platforms are mostly out of order, he pointed out.