Are govt bldgs diff-abled friendly? HC seeks report

Wondering whether easy access is available to differently-abled persons even in newly installed government facilities, the Madras High Court has directed the State to file a comprehensive report indicating how friendly are infrastructure and public places for such persons. The court directed that the report should also indicate the toilet facilities available for differently-abled at government facilities and the easy access to the toilets.

Noting that there are central government guidelines in such regard for all public buildings and government-owned buildings to follow, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, said: “At any rate, whatever new infrastructure facilities are on the planning board or in the process of implementation, they should be modified to ensure that access to persons with disabilities and toilet facilities for them are incorporated.”

The bench on posting the public interest litigation for further hearing to June 14, sought the State to also indicate the extent of adherence to central government guidelines in this regard.

The plea moved by M Karpagam, an advocate, was based on a recent tragic incident wherein Saranya, a 24-year-old differently-abled warehouse manager in Kancheepuram Agriculture Development Office, fatally fell into an unclosed septic tank in an under-construction house since the government depot did not have a toilet. Pointing out to the prevalence of similar lack of ramp or toilet facilities in government facilities and even available toilets not being diff-abled friendly, the plea had sought to bring about a change in the situation.