M. Shiva Kumar, a muscular dystrophy-affected person, waited for more than three hours at his polling station before returning without even casting his vote on December 7.
Registered as a voter in Malakpet constituency, he applied for transportation to the polling station through VAADA app provided by GHMC authorities.
No wheelchair or ramp
“Nobody called to pick me up, or transport me to the polling station. I went on my own, carrying my wheelchair along. There was neither a wheelchair nor a ramp for the disabled at the polling station. Besides, the volunteer to help disabled persons just loitered outside, without assisting even the elderly,” Mr. Shiva Kumar said.
He insisted on a ramp and refused to be carried inside by polling agents who volunteered to help. Repeated calls to the official in charge of the polling booth for temporary ramp did not yield any result. “Many persons of our association also could not vote,” said Mr. Shiva Kumar, who is also the secretary of the Telangana Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Similar was the experience of M. Srinivasulu, president of the Network of Persons with Disability Organisation (NPDO), who, along with his wife, had applied through VAADA app for transportation. But he too did not get any call, and ironically, he was the key person in the buzz created for disabled-friendly elections.
“Unfortunately, instead of taking cognisance of our right to vote as facilitated by the Election Commission, the CEO has behaved like a consultant as if acting out of sympathy,” Mr.Srinivasulu laments. The electoral authorities had five years to make the polls disabled-friendly, but acted in the last moment, he adds.
Polling stations outside the State capital, too, are woefully lacking in disabled friendly infrastructure, though crores of rupees have been spent on the same. Ramps at many places are narrow, temporarily plastered, and not built in scientifically prescribed proportions with railings, says Dumbala Venugopal, a disabled person from Siddipet district.
GHMC officer’s defence
GHMC zonal commissioner D. Hari Chandana, who was in charge of facilities for the disabled in the city, said a total of 10,116 disabled persons had been transported to the polling booths, of whom 8,000 applied through VAADA app. They were accorded priority, and allowed to jump the queue to vote, she said.
Mr. Srinivasulu says the number of persons identified for assistance is too small, considering that the authorities depended on the data of disabled pensioners in the State.
While 4.35 lakh people have been identified, the actual number as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, could be much higher.
“The Act recognises 21 types of disability, while the ‘SADAREM’ data which is the basis for pensions, recognises only seven types. Even as per conservative estimates, there should be 10 to 12 lakh disabled in the State,” Mr. Srinivasulu says.