Voice of Specially Abled People community appreciates 5 announcements for Specially Abled People of India, made by H’ble Railway minister Shri Suresh Prabhu ji. We have a long way to go to make Indian Railways safer and accessible for Specially Abled People and such measures are welcome by VoSAP.
- For the differently-abled travelers, a special initiative is being launched whereby they can purchase concessional e- tickets after one-time registration
- We will also provide a facility for online booking of wheel chair on payment basis for senior citizens, patients and the differently-abled passengers through IRCTC on select stations.
- We have approached the National Institute of Design for this purpose. As a short-term measure however, we propose to increase the quota of lower berths for senior citizens. TTEs would also be instructed to help senior citizens, pregnant women and differently-abled persons in obtaining lower berths.
- Lifts and escalators have been planned at major stations to facilitate easy movement of the elderly and differently-abled passengers. An amount of Rs. 120 crore has been provided for this purpose which is about 76% more than the final allotment in the current year.
- All newly manufactured coaches will henceforth be Braille enabled and Rail Coach Factory has been asked to explore the possibility of building wider entrances for the ease of differently-abled passengers
swamirajeshwara giri
What about the innocent individual senior citizens? Will the government s look in this matter?