Chennai: The city-based Court of the State Commissioner for the Differently-Abled, constituted under Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, has directed Southern Railway to provide two small wheelchairs at all major railways stations before July 24, where Rockfort and Pandyan Express trains halt for a minimum of five minutes.
The directions were given while passing further interim orders on a petition filed by Founder president of December 3 movement T.M.N. Deepak Nathan.
The order said, “Volunteers must be arranged at railway stations which can assist differently abled persons to board and deboard the trains with wheel chair and other appliances by using temporary ramps. Egmore, Tiruchirapalli and Madurai railway stations must be provided with temporary ramps within 15 days.”
Moreover, with the information provided by the petitioner about normal people occupying SLRD coaches, the court instructed authorities and RPF personnel to ensure that differently able people only use the SLRD coaches.
Persons with Disability cheered after the court order as they were complaining about the issue of inaccessibility from over two years.
Also, counsel for Southern Railway filed an affidavit recently stating that the Railway Board had sanctioned the manufacture of LHB type SLRD coaches for attachment in LHB rakes. Production of these coaches with portion for the differently-abled will be taken up during 2017-18 in its units at ICF and RCF.
