The State Commissioner of Person with Disability on the 2nd June sent a letter to the Blind Lead Trust Organization to invite the Director of the Blind Lead Trust Shri.Jitendra Dkhar to a meeting conducted by the State Commissioner for Person with Disability.
The meeting was held on the 5th June, 2023 at 4:00 pm in Committee Room II , Room No. 317, Main Secretariat Building , Shillong
The chairman of the meeting was Shri. Sanjay Kant Prasad Commissioner Secretary For Person With Disability. The meeting was held to discuss the subject relating to Accessible transportation for the Person with Disability. The meeting was attended by the different Disability Association NGOs in the States. The meeting was conducted with the presence of the State Commissioner of Person with Disability Smt.S.B Marak and Assistant Deputy Commissioner Smt.B. Warshong, and Commissioner of Transportation Shri.E.Kharmalki.
Here, the meeting discussed the accessibility in Transportation of the Person with Disability; it might be anywhere, on the road, footpath and staircase that are meant for public use. In the meeting, the NGOs shared their different views and opinions regarding this matter. They have shared their statement of problems and experience faced by PWDs related to accessibility in transportation.
Regarding the Accessibility in Transportation for the PWDs was first led by Ferdinand Lyngdoh Marshilong who is himself a hearing impaired. He is still pursuing his PHD Research on this matter. He felt that the accessibility in Transportation for the PWDs need to be implemented for the safety of the PWDs.
During the meeting the Director of the Blind Lead Trust shared few of his opinions and views regarding the issue experienced by him as a visually impaired on the roadsides, footpath and while crossing the road. Here in the discussion the Director of the BLT has spilled some of his difficulty facing as a visually impaired, such as the bus fare or the taxi fare , it is supposed that the PWDs have to pay 50% from the normal rate be it by bus or by a taxi. But there are certain points where the driver took advantage of this issue where they saw that if the visually impaired were catching a taxi or a bus they tend to ignore or neglect them because they knew that if the visually impaired sit in their car they will have to pay only 50% bus fare from the normal rate. It was also suggested that the Commissioner should raise more awareness regarding the reserved seat for the PWDs in buses, that the seat are only meant for the PWDs. So therefore the seat must not be misused by the normal people, in case the seat for the PWDs is being occupied by the sighted, the bus conductor should replace the sighted people with the PWDs since the seat is totally reserved for them. This has created trouble in the day to day life of the Visually impaired. Apart from that, the Director also shared his opinion based on the accessibility on the footpath, that the footpath should not be sloping if feasible and the staircase should be accessible for them to walk, railing should be constructed as it gives support for the visually impaired. The Street Vendors should also be adaptable when it comes to the visually impaired as sometimes the visually impaired accidentally stumble upon the goods and stuff of the street vendors. Sometimes the Street Vendors yell at the visually impaired for accidentally stumbling their holdings. So this has created Chaos in the situation. It was also suggested that the Commissioner of Person with Disability should give a kind of training or workshop to the street vendors on how to deal and adapt with the visually impaired. The Director of BLT also gives a suggestion to the Commissioner of Transportation where they should construct a waiting house for the PWDs so that it will be easy for the visually impaired to catch a vehicle and also for the driver where to exactly embark and disembark the visually impaired passenger. As in the National Airport, most of the menu available in the airport and inside the plane is not accessible for the visually impaired for example for the sighted people they can read about what is there in the menu book but the visually impaired cannot access all that. To solve this problem, the management should put braille tactile for the visually impaired to be able to catch up or to understand. The Commissioner Of Transportation said that he would discuss and do the necessary steps for this problem.
So, apart from all the discussion and opinions shared by the different Association, the State Commissioner of Person with Disability along with the Commissioner of Transportation has come up with an idea to set up a Monitoring Committee that will look after all these problems and matters faced by the PWDs related to Transportation.