Footpaths for everyone on JM Road leave out disabled

PUNE: A host of problems about the footpaths built on Jangli Maharaj Road by the

Pune Municipal Corporation

have surfaced.

Tactiles pavers on the footpath to help the visually challenged walk safely have been used to make visual designs. On many sections of the 2km footpaths on the either side of the road, tactiles have not been fit at all.

Bollards have been fixed so close to each other that a wheelchair-bound person cannot access the footpath. The raised pedestrian crossing on the JM Road does not support senior citizens and wheelchairs.

Footpaths are few a inches higher than the raised pedestrian crossing, at the confluence of the road and the footpath. Wheelchairs cannot climb on to the footpaths from the raised pedestrian crossings.

There are no special signages for the persons with disabilities. Bicycles on rent do not have special bays which obstruct movement of the persons with disabilities. Bus stops on JM Road are not accessible for the persons with various disabilities.

Recently, a team of experts appointed by the Union government under the ambitious

Accessible India Campaign

conducted a study of the JM Road.

Kavita Murugkar, who is an accessibility specialist and an empanelled member of Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), pointed out many flaws in the ongoing project.

The campaign is a central government programme to serve the differently-abled. It comes with an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings and human resource policies and was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 3, 2015.

Murugkar told TOI that she has sought more disabled friendly footpaths.

“We have studied the entire stretch of the road, which has undergone massive transformation. There are several lacunae. The contractors and authorities have neglected the details of the Accessible India Campaign while making the footpaths and designing the road,” Murugkar said.

The team took a visually challenged person with them to study the footpaths and other road accessories, Murugkar said.

“As the authorities of have made the footpaths wider, there was a scope to incorporate the infrastructure to support the needs and movement of the persons with the disabilities. These have been mentioned in detail in the Rights for Persons with Disability Act, 2016,” she said.

“The planners should have kept in mind provisions of the Accessible India Campaign while constructing the footpaths and roads and should have adhered to them,” she said.

While beautifying the footpath and road, the planners have neglected the norms of the National Building Code and Urban Street Guidelines which civic bodies have to undertake to facilitate movement of persons with disabilities on the public roads, Murugkar said.

“The JM Road footpaths do not have tactile pavers to guide the visually challenged. These pavers have been used near the Deccan bus stop to create a visual design. Actually, these tactiles installed near the bus stop stand gives a ‘stop signal’ to the person using a white cane. If a visually challenged person follows these pavers, he/she will be lost,” she said.

The bicycle project is good, but there are no special bays to park them and they remain parked on the footpath which is an obstruction to persons with disabilities, she added.

“It is very difficult to cross the road. Raised pedestrians crossings have been made but it does not have sufficient width to accommodate a wheelchair. Similarly, there is a height gap between the surface of raised pedestrian crossing and footpath. It is impossible for a wheelchair bound person to climb onto the footpath from the raised pedestrian crossing,” Murugkar said.

She submitted a presentation on these shortcomings to the PMC. “Nothing has happened so far,” she added.

A PMC official said there was no plan to provide all the facilities for the physically challenged during the JM Road redesigning plan.

“We attempted to provide adequate space for the movement of wheelchairs. However, it was found that the space was being misused by two-wheeler riders who tried to get onto the footpath. We are considering some facilities for them in the next six months.”