HC raps railways for refusal to adopt facilities for disabled

The Bombay High Court today expressed displeasure over the refusal of Western and Central Railways to put up low-height ticket windows for the disabled persons on the ground that it would inconvenience others.
At an earlier hearing on the public interest litigation filed by India Centre for Human Rights and Law, the court had asked the railways to make stations disabled-friendly.
Both the railways said in an affidavit today that it would not be possible to provide low-height ticket windows as they would be inconvenient for the general public.
"How can you not provide such facilities....? We have already ordered you to do so. Tell us why will you not follow the law?" the court asked, after going through the affidavit.

Adjourning the hearing for two weeks, the court asked the petitioner to make CIDCO, an infrastructure arm of the state government, a respondent as 14 railway stations on the Navi Mumbai route fall under its purview. It also sought a reply from CIDCO to the issues raised in the PIL.
The court had said earlier that there should be special facilities on the platforms to allow the disabled persons to board the trains easily.
The Persons With Disability Act makes it mandatory for the government and other agencies to make public spaces and transport facilities disabled-friendly, the PIL has said.

"Despite the provisions framed under the law, the implementation is far from satisfactory," it has said.