The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the government, police and North Delhi Municipal Corporation to take immediate step to make pavements in Delhi University’s North Campus disabled-friendly within four weeks.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar gave the direction after noting that pavements on the campus were “clearly inaccessible” to people with disabilities, especially those who were visually impaired, because of obstacles such as traffic lights, police posts, trees and shops in the middle of footpaths.
‘Bang in the middle’
NGO Nipman Foundation had inspected 40 sites on campus on court orders to ascertain whether pavements are accessible to the disabled, especially the visually impaired. After going through photographs and the NGO’s report, the court noted that a majority of obstructions were “bang in the middle” of the tactile paths meant for the visually impaired, which could lead to injuries, and at some places handrails were installed “randomly and aimlessly”.
The court said the obstructions showed the “disinterested attitude” of the authorities, who were not bothered about matters such as tactile markings because these benefit only a small section of the population. In its order, the Bench directed the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD), the corporation and the police to interact with the Chief Architect (Roads) of the New Delhi Municipal Council and come up with a plan to ensure the streets and pavements of North Campus are made disabled-friendly within four weeks.
It asked the NGO to reinspect the sites after four weeks. The directions by the court came while hearing a petition alleging that tactile markings on pavements on the campus, especially outside prominent colleges such as Hindu College, were obstructed by police posts, bus stops, trees, poles, holes, hoardings and signboards. The petition sought that the campus be made more disabled-friendly.
