Only 37% of Railway Board norms for disabled followed: NGO

Only 37 per cent of Railway Board guidelines for making suburban stations here disabled- friendly have been implemented so far, an NGO today informed the Bombay High Court.
India Centre for Human Rights, which had filed a petition seeking facilities for the physically disabled, said in keeping with an earlier high court order, it carried out an audit of suburban railway stations in the city to find out whether they were friendly for persons with disabilities.
The NGO submitted to the court a report, which said that only 37 per cent of guidelines have been implemented.
The petition had said facilities such as ramps, low height ticket windows and toilets for differently-abled commuters did not exist at many railway stations.

The bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka asked the Railways, which had earlier agreed to allow the NGO to conduct the audit, to file its response to the report.
The matter has been posted for hearing on February 9.
The bench told the Central and Western Railway authorities to take a stand on the report.
Nearly 80 lakh commuters travel by Mumbai suburban trains every day.