Despite several complaints and reminders about post offices in East Delhi still being inaccessible to people with disability and a major access hurdle for senior citizens, noted Right to Information (RTI) activist and a practising doctor Satendra Singh said that not much has changed to make these places convenient for its users who are differently-abled.
Dr. Singh, who is an Assistant Professor with University College of Medical Sciences of Delhi University and works at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in North-East Delhi, himself suffers from polio and uses calliper support for mobility.
He had last year accessed information under the RTI and he found out that several post offices were not easily accessible to people with disabilities.
“Last year a series of responses we obtained from the Department of Posts noted that not all East Delhi post offices were completely accessible. Also through actual inspection we found that inaccessibility was problem in many post offices in East Delhi. We then followed this information up with complaints/ letters for improvement of the condition in these post offices. But despite our request to improve the condition, the situation, for nearly a year now, hasn’t changed and these offices stay inaccessible. Also the RTI responses revealed that six post offices were not accessible to all persons with disabilities and this included the GTB Hospital PO,” said Dr. Singh.
He added that even in his hospital (GTB Hospital) the post office is on the first floor and not easily approachable. “We have taken the matter up with the hospital authorities and hope that the situation improves. Not just the disabled but also the elderly suffer because these places are inaccessible,” he noted.
