Railways all set to become disabled-friendly: Prabhu

Rail travel will be more accessible for people with disabilities, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Friday. India has over 8,000 stations, and around 3 crore people travel every day by train. Though the country’s population has increased, the railway infrastructure has not risen proportionately, the minister said after presenting the NCPEDP <g data-gr-id="15" style="color: #3b3b3b; font-size: 11px;">Mphasis</g> Universal Design Awards 2015 at the India International Centre here.

“I will ask mechanical department officials (of the railways) to look into how to make rail bogies accessible for disabled people,” Prabhu said. The minister, however, said it might take some time, and he was not making any false promises.

Though the act giving rights to disabled came into effect in 1995, the society still needs to change its mindset towards disabled people, he said, adding that wheelchairs were available at the railway stations in Delhi as part of some companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) <g data-gr-id="17">policy,</g> and asked the private sector to contribute more in this connection.

The railway minister asked more people to help out to get “<g data-gr-id="22">sukh</g> <g data-gr-id="23">aur</g> <g data-gr-id="24">anand</g>” (mental satisfaction), and not as part of CSR. Prabhu said disabled people’s “<g data-gr-id="25">dharm</g>” (duty) should be to always strive to go forward, while the “<g data-gr-id="26">karm</g>” (also duty) of others should be the help them as much as they can.