The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that it will remove within three months the hindrance that bollards cause to wheelchair users on footpaths of the city.
The court also asked the state government whether an advisory board for policies regarding specially-abled persons was formed and what steps it had taken so far. Kerb Ramp
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor was hearing a suo motu PIL initiated last year on the basis of an email sent by Karan Sunil Shah, who highlighted that the bollards at the entrance of footpaths in Mumbai, though installed with the salutary objective of ensuring safety, had rendered them inaccessible for wheelchair users.
Shah had attached photographs in his email showing that the distance between the poles is so little that it is impossible for a wheelchair to pass through. Last month, the HC had asked BMC not just to remove the defects but also to take action against contractors and “unmindful” officers.
Senior advocate Anil Singh for BMC told the HC that survey of all 24 wards has been completed and the officers have been communicated to remove the obstructions. He said that there is a policy wherein there has to be a certain distance between bollards for wheelchairs and sought three months for rectification.
Advocate Jamshed Mistry, appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in the case, told the bench that under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the state government must constitute a state advisory board. Mistry said the concerned provision in the law imposed certain duties on the board including advising on policies for disabled individuals.
The HC then asked state government to inform whether such a board is constituted and what are the steps taken by the advisory board for easy access of disabled persons on footpaths in Mumbai.
Singh for BMC told the HC that certain roads within the BMC area were maintained by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The HC also asked the two authorities to file an affidavit within a month on removal of bollards causing obstructions. The HC will hear the plea on March 12.
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