http://wap.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/committee-of-secys-to-monitor-accessible-india-campaign-116011800930_1.html The campaign was launched with a view to ensuring ease of access for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in government buildings, public transportation and the information technology field.
The first meeting of the committee was held today with the secretaries from Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, Civil Aviation, Road Transport and Highways, Information and Broadcasting etc. "The Prime Minister had written to Cabinet Secretary following which a Committee of Secretaries has been constituted to monitor the implementation of the campaign. "The idea is to involve other ministries to effectively deal with hurdles that may arise in the implementation of the campaign," a senior official in the Disability Division in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said. The Committee will draw a plan of action. Also, they will hold regular meetings to see that the targets are met in a planned and focused way, the official said. As part of the campaign, 50 government buildings in 20 tier-1 cities and 25 in 20 tier-2 cities will be made accessible for disabled people by July this year. This covers building disabled-friendly steps, ramps, corridors, entry ways, emergency, exists, parking as well as indoor and outdoor facilities, including lighting, signage, alarm systems and toilets. Also, all the 18 international airports will be made disabled-friendly by July, while the remaining 78 domestic airports will be completed by March 2018. Five major railway stations with the most footfall will be made disabled-friendly by July, while 50 per cent of all railway stations will be made accessible by the community by March 2018. "Ideally, a disabled person should be able to commute between home, work place and other destinations with independence, convenience and safety. The more persons with disabilities are able to access physical facilities, the more they will be part of the social mainstream," the official added. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities is collaborating with Ministry of Home, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Tourism for creating 'Accessible police stations', 'Accessible hospitals' and 'Accessible tourism' respectively across the country. The Department is also coordinating with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for enhancing accessibility of Television programmes by incorporating features like captioning, text to speech and audio description. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
