The Modi Government’s ambitious project ‘Accessible India Campaign’ (AIC) or ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’ for Persons with Disabilities, launched in 2015 to make transport, public spaces, tourist places, airports, railway stations and IT in India differently-abled friendly, is moving at a snail’s pace.
Irked at the delay, a Parliamentary panel has in its report tabled recently in Parliament suggested invoking penal provisions against concerned defaulters as a last resort if timelines are not met under the programme.
Sample this: Just 494 buildings (29.7 per cent) out of a total of 1,662 identified buildings have been made accessible by nine States/UTs till date while only 558 websites (64.61 per cent) out of 917 websites have been made accessible under this abhiyan.
The Parliamentary standing committee headed by Lok Sabha MP Rama Devi said it is “constrained” to note that the progress of the Accessible India Campaign launched for people with disabilities has been “rather slow.” It said despite postponing the initial target date of July, 2016, several States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Tripura still do not have any targets/timelines for making 193 buildings accessible by the extended date of June, 2022.
The panel said it was also not satisfied with the pace of work of the line Ministries as Railways are lagging much behind the schedule of making model Railway Stations or providing complete facilities for Pwds in their identified stations. Similarly the progress in other transportation sector i.e. Airports and road transport are discouraging as mostly ‘partial’ accessibility has been ensured.
The Committee also found that penal provisions under the Act exist, however those have not been invoked in the cases where performance of States/UTs and line Ministries is not satisfactory and in its stead, target dates are being extended continuously.
“Similarly, the progress in other transportation sectors i.e. airports and road transport is discouraging as mostly partial accessibility has been ensured. The committee also finds that penal provisions under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act exist. However those have not been invoked in the cases where performance of States/UTs and ministries is not satisfactory and instead, target dates are being extended continuously,” it said
It noted that the railway ministry was not able to provide an update on model accessible railway stations as directed in the AIC review meeting in December 2019 to make the New Delhi Railway Station a model station by January, 2020.
“First of all, the committee desires to know the current position on this aspect. Further, the committee has also been informed that the update on accessibility guidelines, model accessible railways stations, and action taken report on findings of verification audit of selected railway stations are also awaited from them, which is quite disappointing and unworthy of a seasoned and gigantic ministry like the railways,” the panel said.
It also took exception that several ministries are yet to start work on accessibility guidelines and standards. “The committee is surprised from further revelation that all the ministries and departments of the government of India have failed to accomplish the task by the target date of June 2021 as they still are at various stages of finalisation.”
The panel recommended that steps be taken for early finalisation of accessibility standards and these be notified urgently and hoped that there would not be any further extension beyond June, 2022.