New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Thursday asked PWD to explore ways in which all foot overbridges (FOBs) across the capital can be made disabled-friendly.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela underlined that FOBs must be accessible to persons with disabilities. If ramps or lifts cannot be installed in some of these, then the authorities must examine alternative options.
The court was hearing a PIL that seeks facilities for the disabled in FOBs, pointing out that many of them had no provisions.
The bench asked PWD to find out the exact position and inform it of steps that can be taken, after the govt agency informed the court that it has 118 FOBs under its administration, out of which 94 are disabled-friendly with either lifts or ramps or both.
PWD said there were over 20 FOBs, which neither have a lift or a ramp, as it was found that the installation of lifts was not feasible due to space constraints. It said the figure needed to be ascertained.
"The new FOBs under construction and under planning have provisions for lifts and are also disabled-friendly," PWD's status report said, adding that out of 79 such structures with lifts already in place, 42 FOBs have tenders in place for lift operators and 66 have maintenance contracts in place.
The court was dealing with a petition seeking direction for repairs, operations and maintenance of elevators and escalators with foot overbridges in the national capital. This callous approach of authorities has left persons with disabilities and senior citizens unable to access such basic public infrastructure, the plea said.
Appearing for PWD, advocate Tushar Sannu assured the court that a solution will be found and action taken to make the remaining FOBs accessible to the disabled.
The court last year pointed out that many FOBs are in such a "pathetic condition" that "even a healthy person can't use it". It had highlighted the "sorry state of affairs" while ordering PWD to repair over 100 FOBs immediately.
"Forget about the disabled, even healthy people can't use foot overbridges. It is a very sad reflection on you. The condition of these structures is pathetic," the court said.
"Why are these in such a pathetic condition that even a healthy man can't use it? Have you fixed responsibility on officers who are liable for this? It is supposed to be a continuous process. You can't just construct and leave it," the court had lamented.