Chandigarh administration spends Rs 1 cr for a bumpy ride, flouts accessibility rules

Harman Singh Sidhu, President of ArriveSAFE, said that despite calls from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, the Chandigarh Administration is insensitive to their needs. Slamming the administration, the wheelchair-bound Sidhu, who visited the site, offered a cash prize of 1 lakh to any wheelchair user who can successfully navigate the poorly designed stretch.

Sidhu said, “Our engineers have done everything that should not have been done, this cobbled stretch is inaccessible and shakes you to the bone.”

Sidhu rued that he had requested the administration for Architectural Plan, Technical specifications & Tender document under RTI Act 2005 on February 3, but is yet to receive any response.

“The engineers verbally say the documents are with the consultant and they do not have a copy, something that’s unimaginable,” he fumed.

Before taking the RTI route, Sidhu had also written to the UT administrator in January this year.

“We are knocking all possible doors. The executing authorities are supposed to follow the guidelines set by Ministry of Urban Development, so all they had to do was to follow those maps and guidelines, but they didn’t even do that.”

The issue has highlighted the importance of implementing government guidelines for accessibility, which are often ignored in the creation of new projects. Under the smart city mandate, accessibility for people with disabilities is a major criterion, but the failure to implement existing rules means that rectifying this error will come at the cost of taxpayers’ money.