The government submitted that DTIDCL has floated tenders for new designs of bus queue shelters at 1,397 places.
The Delhi government Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that out of 1,690 Bus Queue Shelters (BQS) in the capital, only 960 are differently-abled friendly.
The government said that the Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (DTIDCL) and DTC carried out a survey of the BQSs and bus stops to identify the shelters not accessible to the differently-abled.
“Only 960 out of 1,690 BQSs were found to be disabled friendly. DTIDCL will now take necessary steps to make all bus stops disabled friendly,” the Delhi government’s transport department said in their affidavit before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao.
It submitted that DTIDCL has floated tenders for new designs of BQSs at 1,397 places.
The government’s stand came in the backdrop of the court’s May 30 order, by which it had directed them to place the timelines within which the bus stops shall be made differently-abled friendly, as well as the necessary repairs to the roads be carried out to enable effective usage of these buses and enabling their use by the differently-abled.
It had issued the direction during the hearing of a plea by Nipun Malhotra, who had challenged the Delhi government’s move to procure 2,000 standard-floor buses at a cost of Rs 300 crore. Malhotra had claimed that these were not equipped for wheelchairs and will directly affect about 2.34 lakh differently-abled people in the capital.
The court had stayed the procurement and slammed the Delhi government for not buying low-floor differently-abled friendly CNG buses.
It had also said that permission for acquisition of 2,000 standard floor buses, as proposed by the government, shall be only an interim measure and a stop-gap arrangement pending completion of all necessary steps for making the transport system differently-abled friendly.
Further, the affidavit said that a survey of the ISBTs was also carried out by DTIDC, which found that there are facilities for the differently abled and only ISBTs located at Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan are to be redeveloped, wherein all aspects relating to a person with disability would be taken care of.
It said that the minister concerned has held a meeting with all agencies and has directed all road agencies to carry out a survey of all roads under their respective jurisdiction for pot holes and to carry out the necessary repairs.