A Road to Nowhere from November 2005 to till date
It was with great hope that a Public Interest Litigation was filed at High Court of Madras on 23.11.2005 after ad due process of deliberations with the respective authorities for making MTC buses accessible for persons with disabilities.
The Honorable High Court expanded the scope of the petition to Public Buildings in one its early hearings.
Fast forwarding to 06.04.2016 after a long series of back and forth with affidavits and counter affidavits and a number of meetings The Honorable High Court gave an interim order saying
"5. We are of the view that any steps to be taken for the benefit of the persons with special needs has to be inclusive in character. The idea cannot be to have separate buses, but buses which are used daily by passengers meeting the requirement of Persons with special needs. It is not possible to pre-determine the route to be travelled, the destination to be reached etc., by introducing buses only for certain routes which are disabled friendly. The objective has to be, over a period of time, to make sure all the buses in use meet the requirement of people with special needs. This can only happen if procurement of such buses which are meant to cater to the people with special needs, as otherwise what has happened would continue to happen – introducing of new buses in the fleets which still do not meet the requirement of the people with special needs.
6. We thus direct that any new buses to be introduced in the fleets must meet the requirement of the people with special needs and as per the norms in consultation with the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
7. In determining whether a bus is disabled friendly, inter alia, it has to be ensured that there is easy access for boarding and alighting."
Raising rays of hope for persons with disabilities in Chennai.
Chennai's 2021 population is now estimated at 11,235,018 and according to the government of Tamil Nadu. There is a disability rate of 1635 per 100 000 population. There are 1,83,695 persons with disabilities as per the statistics given above. The fact is that disability statistics in India is calculated vary poorly. The WHO says 15% of any given population is persons with disabilities. The estimated population of persons with disabilities in Chennai is 16,85,253 as per The WHO statistics.
Buses bought/allotedq by MTC/State transport corporations after the above order
"Eight State Transport Corporations (STCs), which have been saddled with aged buses, are set to get 2,000 new buses in the next six months" The Hindu 22nd February 2018
"The new red buses launched by the Metropolitan
Transport Corporation in three phases since October 2018, replacing nearly 10% of the aging fleet, are a big hit among commuters in the city.Despite able to seat eight people fewer than the old buses that have 46 seats, the 300 new buses, with broader seats and better leg space, are drawing more commuters and generating more revenue, shows official data." 15th May 2019 new Indian express
"The new buses were part of the 500 buses flagged off by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami here on Wednesday. The buses were built at a cost of Rs. 154.24 crore. Of the 500 buses, 235 buses are allotted for MTC" 15th August 2019 New Indian express
"Though no electric buses have been allotted to MTC under the FAME scheme, the State government will be purchasing 500 electric and 2,213 Bharat Stage VI buses, at a cost of ₹1,580 crore, through funding from KfW of Germany" DT NEXT 23.11.2019
"The government, in the interim budget on Tuesday, sanctioned `623 crore for the first phase of the project, which will involve buying 2,200 diesel buses and 500 electric buses. “A majority of the e-buses will be for MTC, Chennai, and the rest will be deployed in Madurai and Coimbatore cities,” said a senior transport department official" Times of India 24.02.2021
in normal circumstances this is enough and more reasons to file a contempt of court but some how we missed the proverbial bus may be because it is against the buses.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by India in 2007 says
"1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:
a) Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
b) Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services."
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 with clear deadline for implementation says
"Section 41 in The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
Title: Access to transport.
Description: (1) The appropriate Government shall take suitable measures to provide,— (a) facilities for persons with disabilities at bus stops, railway stations and airports conforming to the accessibility standards relating to parking spaces, toilets, ticketing counters and ticketing machines; (b) access to all modes of transport that conform the design standards, including retrofitting old modes of transport, wherever technically feasible and safe for persons with disabilities, economically viable and without entailing major structural changes in design; (c) accessible roads to address mobility necessary for persons with disabilities. (2) The appropriate Government shall develop schemes programmes to promote the personal mobility of persons with disabilities at affordable cost to provide for,— (a) incentives and concessions; (b) retrofitting of vehicles; and (c) personal mobility assistance."
"6. The State seeks time to indicate a road-map. However, it is necessary that the State be restrained from acquiring any further bus for the public transport system which does not conform to the specifications indicated in the notification of September 20, 2016 referred to above. In other words, the State will not acquire any new bus for use thereof as part of the public transport system unless such bus meets the standards indicated in the notification of September 20, 2016." Says the Honorable High Court of Madras
Despite all this the MTC yesterday said in court that they they don't have the resources to implement any of these laws and court orders. Forcing the Honorable High Court to give an order saying
"2 Appropriate measures should have been taken much earlier so that things would not come to such a pass. Though it can be appreciated that the pandemic has caused a severe loss and city roads may still not be viable to receive low platform heavy duty vehicles,
there has to be much more acquisition of disabled friendly buses and investment in appropriate roads since the law has been in place for a considerable period of time. At the same time, some latitude may be
offered so that the larger public interest is served and the blanket embargo on acquisition of buses does not completely disable the public transport system
3. The State seeks time to indicate the road-map that has been referred to in one of the previous orders. The State also seeks time to furnish appropriate figures so that some time may be afforded to the State to go in for a mix of disabled friendly and ordinary buses for a
limited period before all buses acquired from a particular date will be as required by law to be disabled friendly."
"The state government of Tamil Nadu, in its revised budget for FY2021–22, has allocated INR6.23 billion under the KfW assistance programme for the procurement of 1,000 new buses. It has also allocated INR7.03 billion as subsidy for free travel on buses for female and third-gender passengers as well as passengers with limited mobility on buses operated by the state transport authority. It has also allocated INR7.50 billion as diesel subsidy to insulate against price increase.
The state government has announced plans to launch the Chennai City Partnership Programme, in partnership with the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The programme aims at revitalising the Chennai Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). The state government has also announced plans to prepare the detailed feasibility report for an upcoming metro project in Madurai, one of the largest cities in the state." Global Mass Transit 13th August 2021
Still MTC does not have money to make buses accessible!
This being the case of Physical Access with MTC, Are their services any in terms of access? The following 2 instances are enough to answer that question as well
"When Rajiv Rajan boarded a bus at Parrys on Tuesday evening, he didn't expect the conductor to make a fuss about his wheelchair. The conductor of the 21G deluxe bus refused to let Rajiv, coordinator of Vidyasagar's disability legislation unit, travel to Kotturpuram unless he paid "luggage charges" for his wheelchair" Times of India 22nd February 2009
"In a shocking case, a person with disability, who was invited to participate in a demonstration and trial of accessible MTC buses, toppled backward from the ramp when she tried to board the vehicle, and hit the back of her head on concrete floor. The incident stirred panic at the function, as other persons with disabilities felt the prototype was a threat to their safety." New Indian Express 8th November 2019
We have purposely copied and pasted in most of the document from credible sources so that nothing we say can be sensibly denied
16 years of legal battle in 2 PILs, an UN Convention a National Law to "Protect" The Rights of Persons with Disabilities are not enough to stop discrimination against persons with disabilities. Like there used to be whites only buses during the pre independent days now there are able bodied only buses.
Where do we citizens with disabilities in India go to protect our rights?
Or is it that we are not the citizens of this country?
Does anyone care in Chennai for its 17 lakh odd citizens with disabilities?
Will any one us be able to see an accessible MTC fleet of buses?
Is there anyone listening to all this?
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