Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

New public toilets not accessible to disabled

By V. Geetanath

HYDERABAD Oct. 25. For a city shining bright with the ongoing Afro-Asian Games and innovative reforms taken up over the years, it comes as a dark spot. The 17-odd new public conveniences that the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad has made ready in select locations (of the 38 to be built) for the Games are seemingly out of bounds to the disabled.

The access survey report done by the Society for Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (SeDOP) on the new MCH toilet at the St. Ann's High School shows that the new public toilets are not compatible for the disabled using assistance like the wheel-chair, crutches and callipers.

Inaccessibility to the toilets, since all of them are being built on a similar design, starts from the parking lot as per the report. The space purported to be reserved for the disabled persons using tricycles, three-wheeled scooters and cars is not close to the main entrance. The parking area too is on a sloped terrain making it difficult for the mobility of vehicles.

Main entrance is not accessible as there is no alternative ramp provided for persons using the wheelchair. The steps do not have handrails on either side for support to persons using crutches and callipers. The steps' tread edges are not painted with contrasting colour bands for the safety of persons with poor vision. Manoeuvring space for the wheelchair users is less at the entrance door of the toilet and the space inside.

Grab bars and other accessories are not provided for inside the toilet. There is no back-up support and the inside bolt is too high for comfort. Grab bars are not provided even in the urinals for support and the flush controls are at an inaccessible height. Guiding blocks are lacking on the flooring to show the way for the visually impaired.

Signage's of directional signs and symbols in Braille have not been installed, said the SeDOP that has taken up several advocacy issues concerning disabled people focussing on providing barrier-free environment for persons with disability and senior citizens in the last few years.

The organisation has been writing to the State Government including departments like the Disabled Welfare Department, MCH, and others about the need to incorporate the barrier-free design features in the new public toilets. In its representation to the MCH Commissioner, SeDOP pointed out that the existing public toilets were totally unusable for disabled persons and as such barrier-free toilets were necessary for the benefit of disabled persons.

In fact, the SeDOP had earlier conducted an access audit report on the existing public toilets in the twin cities and did not find a single toilet of the 38 Sulabh complexes to be accessible to the disabled. It had also sent a copy of guidelines issued by the CPWD with photographs of the public conveniences that can be used both by disabled and others persons when the proposal for construction of new public conveniences was being explored.

Yet, despite representations made to the MCH, there was no official response, the organisation regretted even as it sought to remind the officials concerned of the State Government's commitment to provide barrier-free environment in government buildings.

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