Dear Harish: The letter covers all major elements and concerns of blind and visually impaired passengers. Just a loud thought... If this is not accepted by the railway minister, shouldn't we submit this to the court as a public interest litigation drawing the esteemed minister to the docks?
Subramani -----Original Message----- From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Kotian, H P Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:03 PM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: [AI] Draft petition to the railwayMinister Hello All Placed below is the draft petition which we shall be sending to the railway minister. If there is any omission pl let us know by feb 11. Let me clarify, we have only mentioned visually disabled as we believe we should speak for that sectorfor which we are qualified to do so. Otherwise it would be speaking "for" them and we would be committing the same error for which we find uncomfortable when others tend to do for us the blind. We shall fully support the endeavor from the other segment of the disabled. We shall also include in this petition if it comes from those persons or representative organizations. Pl read on Warmly Harish Kotian Honorable Minister for Railways Respected Madam Accessibility policy in the railway budget On behalf of the blind community and disability community at large, we request you to include an accessibility policy while presenting the forthcoming railway budget. Justification: A large number of disabled passengers avail the services of the railways and find the services to be unfriendly and not meeting the minimum accessibility requirements under the law. This has resulted in needless hardship and accidents which could have been easily avoided. This Grimm outlook however, can be reversed with an effective, comprehensive accessibility policy. Scope: It should touch all services rendered by the railways and should not only cover the passengers but should also extend to all disabled employees. We would like the railways to also be the largest equal opportunity employer. Problems faced by blind passengers and solutions: Problem: The ticket clerks often are unwilling to issue concessional tickets despite possessing valid concession certificates. Solution: proper awareness training be imparted and the practice of deducting the differential amount in case of erroneous concession ticket from the salary of the concerned clerk be done away with. Only a penalty be imposed. Problem: Concessional tickets cannot be booked on the online portal. Solution: e booking of concession tickets be introduced either by creating facilities for uploading scanned copy of disability certificate and verifying it during journey, or by requiring one-time registration of all disability certificates in a centralized database at the time of booking first e ticket by a disabled passenger. Problem: Many accidents are caused by blind persons falling to the tracks from the platform. Solution: This can be avoided if tactile markings are made on the edges of the platforms. Similar tactile marking should be made on the platform to guide blind persons to lead to the exit, bridges, ticketing counters, coach for the disabled etc. The tactile markings should also be painted with high contrast color for low vision persons. Problem: Accidents are also caused by blind persons slipping into the space between compartments. Solution: This gap should be filled up appropriately. Problem: There is general lack of information, not only to disabled passengers but also to all passengers about approaching station, time of arrival there etc. Solution: There should be internal announcement announcing the direction and the name of the approaching station. Problem: The status of disabled or handicapped coach is far from clear. On one hand, it is meant for disabled travelers with general tickets and on the other hand, nowadays, reservations in Handicapped quota are being allotted in handicapped coach. Further, there is always confusion regarding whether a particular train does have handicapped coach and if yes, where it is exactly located, whether in the front or at back. This requires disabled passengers to run helter-skelter for locating it, defeating the very purpose of such a coach. Further, more often than not, it is occupied by able bodied unauthorized passengers and is not vestibuled rendering seeking any assistance by disabled passengers from RPF or ticket checking staff extremely difficult. Solution: Handicapped coach be clearly designated for travelers with disabilities and their escorts with general ordinary tickets and reservations in handicapped quota berths be given in the sleeper coach as was being done earlier. This would fulfill the purpose of the handicapped coach in the true sense of the term. All the coaches in the train and toilets in them be made disabled friendly. The handicapped coach be vestibuled and placed approximately in the middle of the train, to avoid difficulties in locating it and also from safety point of view, as assistance can be readily sought by disabled passengers in case of unauthorized occupancy and such passengers shifted to adjacent coaches, or in case of any emergency. There should be a facilitation counter to help senior citizens, patients and disabled passengers Such an accessibility policy should invariably have definite funds allocated to it and must have specified targets to be achieved in the year. There should be a theme based annual accessibility audit. Its findings should be posted at the railway's portal. There should be a statement on accessibility in every railway budget. Benefit: It would not only help the disabled, but would be generally useful to all passengers. 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