Over 70% of the public buildings of the Greater Chennai Corporation do not have accessible toilets for persons with disabilities, according to a survey conducted by the civic body.
Of the 2,802 buildings of the Chennai Corporation, around 860 have accessible toilets for persons with disabilities. The Corporation has completed work on ramps at the entrance of all the 2,802 buildings. However, many amenities that are needed to make the buildings accessible to such persons have not been provided, the survey points out. An accessible public building is one where persons with disabilities have no barrier in entering it and using all the facilities therein. This covers the built environment, services, steps and ramps, corridors, entry gates, emergency exits, parking as well as indoor and outdoor facilities, including lighting, signage, alarm systems, and toilets.
In a bid to identify accessible buildings, the civic body has been conducting accessibility audits that determine whether a building meets the agreed-upon standards. Of the 2,802 public buildings, only one has an accessible lift for persons with disabilities. Drinking water facility accessible to persons with disabilities has not been installed in the 2,802 buildings, including hospitals or zonal offices. Auditory signals have not been provided. Only around 2% of the buildings have tactile flooring for persons with disabilities. The buildings are yet to get signage for persons with disabilities, the survey notes.
TMN Deepak, State president of the December 3 Movement, says accessibility is inadequate in the Chennai Corporation buildings. The case in point is the Amma Maligai entrance, which has step curbs in the ramp, which in itself is unusable by those on crutches.
“The basic approach of ramp alone constitutes accessibility is not acceptable. Accessibility must be seen from three angles — physical, process, and product — which are interconnected to a large extent. Tactile flooring is absent in a large number of Corporation buildings. Even water-dispensers are also not accessible to wheelchair-users and growth-impaired people. Community halls pose challenges. Schools under the Corporation don’t have sufficient bathrooms with adequate infrastructure and gender balance for the people with disabilities. A universal design should be the basis for facilitating accessibility to people with disabilities,” he says.
The Corporation has initiated projects for improving accessibility for persons with disabilities. The ramp on the sands of the Marina was expected to facilitate more proposals for improving accessibility. However, the civic body has not launched other projects, especially in parks and heritage structures. Other civic agencies have not launched any project to improve accessibility, sources in the government say.
Residents’ welfare associations have pointed to the absence of infrastructure for persons with disabilities along roads and in bus shelters, on footpaths, and at bus termini.
K. Kumar, visiting faculty member, School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, and former Chief Planner, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, says the urban transport ecosystem for easy accessibility to senior citizens and persons with disabilities comprises seamless connection among footpaths, bus-stop shelters, and buses.
“Together, these elements of the ecosystem facilitate value addition to this special category of passengers. For starters, the footpaths must be of uniform width and continuous and must be of smooth surface. The kerbs must be both mountable (by wheels) and climbable (for pedestrians), according to Indian Roads Congress norms. A cursory look will reveal that no footpath in Chennai can pass the muster. The quality of the stock of sidewalks leaves much to be desired. Simple tweaking of the design of the bus-stop shelters can ensure a reasonable access from the residential hubs to the bus-stop shelters. Although some bus-stop shelters have some features, no standard design has evolved so far. Any student studying urban planning in any school of architecture and planning can be tapped into for evolving a template,” he says.
Stressing the importance of the design of public transport facilities, Mr. Kumar says, “The design of the MTC buses play a crucial role in the finality of the special accessibility. The procurement of 352 low-floor buses which can’t even touch the total demand by a barge pole hasn’t yet been completed even after a lapse of over three years and the assurances given to the High Court. The design of the interior of the bus floor must accommodate the wheelchair(s) in such a way that the time taken for boarding and alighting of the elderly and passengers with disabilities is minimal, without affecting the bus journey time. The baby steps taken by various agencies to improve accessibility for the special category of passenger are surely welcome and assume significance in the context of the increasing senior citizen population.”
