Mumbai : The Bombay High Court has pulled up the railways for not providing essential amenities for the disabled despite previous court orders directing them to do so.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A K Menon was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by India Centre for Human Rights, a NGO.
The PIL points out that the Persons with Disability Act, 1995, propose to make rail compartments, toilets, easily accessible to challenged persons and those using wheelchairs. The petition said that the Act asked the government to provide auditory signals at traffic signals, engraving on the surface of zebra crossings and railway platforms, and warning signals for the challenged.
The PIL accepted that currently, railway platforms were provided with auditory signals to indicate location of the special compartment for physically challenged persons. However, it alleged that low platforms and pedestrian over bridges had made railway stations out of bounds for physically challenged persons, especially those on wheelchairs.
In the previous hearing the court had asked the railways to conduct a survey on whether they have complied with all the recommendations made by the petitioner and as per previous directions passed by the court. The court had further asked the state to file an affidavit on the survey conducted by the railways.
On Friday, the state provided the affidavit in which it stated that albeit there are provisions under the law to make urban transport in the city accessible to the disabled, the western and central railways cannot do so because of lack of funds.
The court observed that there are orders of the court and mandates of law that state that authorities have to provide facilities for the differently-abled. The court has also asked the petitioner to amend the PIL and make CIDCO a respondent.
