CPWD: 168 govt buildings now disabled- friendly

◗ The Central Public Works Department ( CPWD) has so far made 168 government buildings approachable for differently- abled persons in the country under the ‘ Accessible India Campaign’

New Delhi, July 14: The Central Public Works Department ( CPWD) has so far made 168 government buildings approachable for differently- abled persons in the country under the ‘ Accessible India Campaign’, an initiative of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities ( DEPwD).

According to the infrastructure building agency, the work of making all the Central government buildings accessible- friendly for differently- abled persons will be completed by August this year.

“Out of 219 central government buildings, 168 buildings have been made differently- abled friendly. Remaining 51 buildings will be made fully accessible by August this year.”

“We have given estimates to concerned departments to carry out an exercise for making their buildings full accessible,” Central Public Works Department director General Prabhakar Singh told us.

He said, as part of making buildings differentlyabled friendly, facilities such as installation of ramps, panels on Braille script, are undertaken.

Delhi Public Works Department ( PWD) also recently decided to carry out an audit of all the government buildings constructed by it to find out their accessibility to differentlyabled persons in the national capital.

The PWD carries out construction of the Delhi govt buildings, including offices, hospitals, schools, among others.

Apart from this, the CPWD has taken initiatives for generation of renewable energy in government buildings. Solar plants of capacity of 5.3 MVVp have been installed in 40 government buildings across the country.

According to the CPWD, the agency has also facilitated installation of rooftop solar PV plants in other central government buildings where power bills are being paid directly by the owner/ user departments.