Bhubaneswar: The Union government has rejected the proposal of revised estimates sent by the state government relating to upgrading 15 public buildings in the state capital to disabled-friendly sites under the Accessible India campaign.
In its communication to the state government, the Centre has said that the former’s proposals are faulty as there are several lacunae and, thus, the estimates could not be approved. It has also earmarked the 15 buildings whose proposals are said to be faulty.
According to the Centre proposals for the buildings that were found to be devoid of merit include Kalyan Mandap, Muncipal Hospital, BMC Building, Utkal University, IPICOl, Sikhya Soudha, Pathani Samanta Planetorium, Ekambra College, Maharshi College, BDA Building, Odisha State Cooperative Bank, Odisha State Cooperative Housing Corporation, Institute of Engineers, Science Park and the Pantha Nivas of OTDC.
The Centre further said that some proposals were sent without the signatures of the Executive Engineer of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), while they failed to meet the standards like lift sizes (10 passengers and above), toilet size (2.0×2.2m), ramp of gradient 1:12, accessible routes, colour contrasting strips at stair nosing, handrails, signage and others in buildings as per the recommendations of the Access Audit Reports.
Anjlee Agarwal, who had submitted the accessibility audit report of Bhubaneswar government buildings earlier, told the Orissa POST that the process of floating tender and choosing auditors for accessibility audit of government buildings were completed in April, 2016, while after completing the survey of 50 buildings, the team submitted the audit reports in two parts – the last one in July 2016.
The strategy paper of the mission had claimed to complete accessibility audits of 50 government buildings in 20 Indian cities, including Bhubaneswar, and even convert it into disable-friendly buildings by July 2016. However, the project kept delaying.
In 2015, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had launched a campaign to achieve universal accessibility for persons with disability across the country in a phased manner. Later the same year, the ministry set and announced its deadlines for meeting these targets.
Aside from the government buildings, the government had also announced converting the A1, A and B category railway stations into totally accessible by persons with disabilities by July 2016. However, this also failed to meet the deadline. These railway stations include Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri and many others from the state.
In response to the communication from the Centre, the state Social Security and Persons with Disabilities Department (SSEPD) has now written to the Executive Engineers of different departments to furnish the revised cost estimates of the above 15 buildings for onward transmission to the Centre for early release of funds for a barrier free environment at these sites.
Manish Kumar, OP
