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Five years down
the line, the Centre wants all
buildings in the country to be disabled-friendly.
New Delhi, Aug 16: To provide a barrier-free
environment to differently-able persons in all major
public buildings, the Urban Development Ministry has
drawn a plan for state governments to make changes in
building by-laws to compulsorily include
disabled-friendly facilities like access ramps, signs,
toilets and Braille-sign lift controls in buildings.
To begin with, the Prime Minister’s Office at South
Block has already started the process of installing
disabled-friendly facilities. Other Central government
buildings like Nirman Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan, Udyog
Bhawan and Shastri Bhawan in the national capital are
expected to follow suit.
The Urban Development Ministry, which is the nodal
ministry for implementing this action plan, wants to
make central government buildings in the country
disabled-friendly in the next two years. For this, the
ministry has started access audit of around 50 Central
government buildings in Delhi, a senior official in the
Ministry said.
The access audit will identify barriers in the buildings
for the disabled such as approach, main gates, toilets,
lighting, exit, emergency evacuation facilities,
parking, building entrance, public dealing areas,
signage, lifts, staircase and ramp.
At the same time, the ministry is also holding
discussions with state governments to amend their
building bylaws to include disabled-friendly facilities
while constructing new buildings. To assist state
governments, the Centre will soon come out with a common
guideline in consultation with experts from IIT-Roorkee
and NGOs, said the official.
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