----- Original Message -----
From: Meenakshi Balasubramaniam
To: Dlu South ; VIDYA SAGAR ; DRA Tamil Nadu ; sudha ; sudha ramamoorthy ;
shivani gupta ; Shivani Gupta ; srinu vasulu ; Sruti Mohapatra ; Paul
Ramanathan ; Bhargavi Davar ; Val Resh ; Kanchan Pamnani ; Pooja Parvati ;
Syamala G ; shanti auluck ; Aarth Astha ; Poonam Natarajan ; Murali Padmanabhan
; AS NARAYANAN ; Zorin Singha ; Deaf Enabled ; Rajiv Rajan ; Amba Salelkar
Cc: Javed Abidi ; Dorodi Sharma
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 4:25 PM
Subject: Commitment to the disability sector in the railway budget
Dear All,
Greetings!
Promises made to the sector in the Railway Budget:
"Madam Speaker, India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the rights of the
disabled. We are conscious of our responsibility under the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). To facilitate the boarding of trains and exit from
the stations for the differently-abled and the elderly, the steps proposed
include provision of 179 escalators and 400 lifts at A-1 and other major
stations, affixing Braille stickers indicating the layout of coaches including
toilets, provision of wheel chairs and battery operated vehicles at more
stations and making coaches wheel-chair friendly.
In order to provide an employment avenue to the disabled people, I propose to
reserve a specified number of JTBS for them, keeping in view the fact that the
PCOs at stations have become largely redundant after the mobile revolution in
India".
"concerted efforts to fill up approximately 1.52 lakh vacancies this year. It
is a measure of popularity of railways as an employer that a staggering 2.2
crore applications were received. For the first time, Railway recruitment
examinations were held at more than 60 cities across the country. In the
process, a backlog of about 47,000 vacancies earmarked for weaker sections and
physically challenged is likely to get cleared"
.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/full-text-pawan-kumar-bansals-railway-budget-201314-speech/375226-37-64.html
The paragraphs on
a. passenger amenities: does not mention the amenities made inclusive and
follow universal design standards.
b. IT enabled services: are silent to the web accessibility standards
requirement, online booking allowing booking concessional tickets by passengers
with disabilities and other listed services inclusive.
c. Ticket Reservation: There is no mention of accessible e-ticketing facility
even while talking about the next speed and capacity of the system.
d. Catering: The toll free number for complaint has not included complaints
through messages for use by Deaf people.
e. Rail Tourism: There is no mention of accessibility while the designing the
executive lounge at Delhi. "The train will be made attractive and affordable
through concessional fares", . There is no mention of accessibility.
f. Staff: The staff amenities such as the quarters and hostel has no mention of
accessibility.
g. Skill Development: this section also does not talk about including persons
with disabilities / any marginalised groups.
h. Rail Heritage: There is a plan to revamp the museum for the benefit of
children. it is a question if it will be inclusive.
Please do add.
Thanks & Regards
Meenakshi.B
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