RTI reveals concerned Ministries have no information about action taken to make road transport, railways and air transport accessible for people with disabilities.
How accessible are public transport systems to people with disabilities across India like bus stations and road transport carriers, railway stations, airlines and airports?
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPwD Act) under section 45 states that “all existing public buildings shall be made accessible in accordance with the rules formulated by the Central Government within a period not exceeding five years from the date of notification of such rules”. This means that the government is legally obliged to make all buildings fully accessible by 15th July 2022.
In response to an RTI application submitted by Shameer Rishad of Javed Abidi Foundation, Gurugram, in September 2019, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities- DEPwD, under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, merely transferred out the RTI application to the Road Transport and Highways, Railways and Civil Aviation Ministries. The Ministry of Civil Aviation claimed, none of its Sections hold this information for airlines or airports. Later on the Ministry transferred the RTI application to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Airports Authority of India.
Shameer is still waiting for their response while more than a year has lapsed since the transfer of the RTI application. The Road Transport and Highways and Railways Ministries have also not bothered to send any reply. This is indicative of the lack of commitment that the Ministries and public authorities have towards ensuring persons with disabilities have barrier-free access to these transport utilities, despite the launch of the Accessible India Campaign on World Disability Day on December 3, 2015.
Unfortunately, the nomenclature of Divyangjan that the Hon’ble Prime Minister accorded to persons with disabilities in 2015 and the NDA’s slogan sabka saath sabka vikas, sabka vishwas does not seem to have translated into the practical realisation of the rights of disabled persons.
The RTI Intervention
On 30th September 2019, Shameer Rishad submitted an RTI application to the Department of Disability Affairs seeking the following information amongst others (see attachment):
“Please provide me a copy of the following information:
1) What steps has the Competent Authority taken to meet the following targets set by the Accessible India Campaign and have targets set by the Accessible India Campaign been met with respect to their given time frame. The targets and timeframes are as follows:
Target 2.1: Conducting accessibility audit of all the international airports and converting them into fully accessible international airports (by July 2016);
Target 2.2: Conducting accessibility audit of all the domestic airports and converting them into fully accessible domestic airports (by March 2018);
Target 3.1: Ensuring that A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations (by July 2016);
Target 3.2: Ensuring that 50% of railway stations in the country are converted into fully accessible railway stations (by March 2018); and
Target 4.1: Ensuring that 10% of Government owned public transport carriers in the country are converted into fully accessible carriers (by March 2018).
The RTI replies
The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the DEPwD transferred the RTI application to the Ministries of Road Transport, Railways and Civil Aviation three days later on 4th October, 2019. Five Divisions/Sections of the Ministry of Civil Aviation sent replies to Shameer (see attachment):
1) On 9th October, the CPIO of the Air India Division of the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed Shameer that his Division did not have the required information in material form.
2) On 14th October, the CPIO of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Section claimed that he did not hold the information and transferred the RTI application to the RTI Cell of AAI HQ, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi.
3) On 18th October, another CPIO of the Civil Aviation Ministry transferred the RTI application to the Nodal RT Officer of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
4) More than a month after the submission of the RTI application, the CPIO of the Administration Section of the Civil Aviation Ministry replied to Shameer that the requested information may be treated as “Nil” with regard to his Ministry.
5) More than two months after the submission of the RTI application, another CPIO of the same Ministry transferred the RTI once again to DGCA requesting the concerned CPIO to send a reply directly to the RTI applicant
6) Neither the AAI nor the DGCA have bothered to send any reply to Shameer till date. Meanwhile, the RTI transferred to the Road Transport and Highways and Railways Ministries has also met with a deafening silence form both of them.
What is wrong with these responses?
The Accessible India Campaign is a nation-wide campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities. Ensuring Transportation Systems Accessibility for persons with disabilities is a major component of this campaign.
The starting point for this campaign is to conduct accessibility audits of the transport systems as per Sections 40–41 of the RPwD Act. Next, steps were to be taken to ensure ease of access to these facilities for people with disabilities. Targets and Indicators have been developed to measure the performance and outcomes of the campaign to ensure barrier-free access to road transport, railways and airlines for people with disabilities.
Rule 15 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules issued in 2017 require the concerned agencies to ensure barrier-free access to the disabled community as per the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Persons with Disabilities and Elderly Persons issued by the Union Ministry of Urban Development in 2016.
There are more guidelines for barrier-free access to transport systems on the website of Accessible India Campaign.
However there is very little information in the public domain about the action taken under Accessible India Campaign. The dashboard style of reporting outcomes of developmental programmes, introduced by the Central Government, in recent years, is also missing from the Campaign’s website.
On further research, Shameer discovered That Member of Parliament Sri Pinaki Mishra of Biju Janta Dal, had asked a question in the Lok Sabha which pertained to the accessible India campaign. His questions were as follows:
(a) Whether the targets of the Saugamya Bharat Abhiyan during the years 2016 to 2018 have been achieved and if so, the details thereof;
(b) Whether there is a plan to expand the reach of the mission to all other government departments, websites, documents and buildings;
© If so, the details of implementation of the scheme, state-wise especially in Odisha; and;
(d) Whether the appropriate incentives are being designed to incentivize the private sector for the same and if so, the details thereof?
Sri Krishn Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment promptly replied to the queries on 4th February 2020. A brief snapshot of his reply read as follows:
The Accessible India Campaign was launched in the year 2015 and the government has revised the date to complete its target by March 2020.
1058 buildings have been identified of which 251 have been made accessible.
Rs. 354.45 Cr has been disbursed as of 31.12.19 to do the needful.
CPWD has made 998 Government buildings accessible.
709 A1, A, and B category railway stations have been provided ‘short-term accessibility features’
603 A1, A, and B category railway stations have been provided ‘long-term accessibility features’
35 international airports and 55 domestic airports have been made partially accessible (total airports 449, of which AAI operates 126)
354 websites of state and UTs have been made accessible and 95 Central government websites have been made accessible
Out of 1,45,287 buses 35,720 (24.59%) have been made ‘accessible’.
This has left the RTI applicant at a loss of words, as when he inquired about the issue he did not receive a response but a member of parliament did get an answer in proper fashion. The RTI Act was created to empower ordinary citizens and hold the government accountable. It is a legislation which is in place to bridge the gap between members of parliament and the citizens who elect them.
Shameer’s RTI queries regarding railways and road transport were not clarified. As per the RTI Act public authorities holding the requested information must respond to RTI applications within 30 days. Not doing so without reasonable cause invites penalties from Rs. 250/- per day up to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- in each case. Shameer is now drafting more RTIs and appeals in some cases to enquire specifically which stations, buildings and airports have been made accessible under the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.
This piece was authored by Mr. Venkatesh Nayak who is the Programme Head of the Access to Information Programme at Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). More RTI interventions on a range of issues connected with the implementation of the RPwD Act are in the works. If you are interested in sharing information on the same and collaborating, reach out to the Convenor of JAF on twitter @RishadShameer.