Mumbai: NAB wants Central Railway to be more disabled-friendly

A demand in the letter by NAB seeks that tactile tiles be placed where the divyang coaches halt

The National Association for the Blind has asked for more facilities to make the Central Railway even disabled-friendly. These include functional beepers, tactile tiles and benches for security near the coaches for the divyang.

In a letter submitted to the Deputy General Manager of the Central Railway, the secretary general of the Association, Satya Kumar Singh, has raised this issue in seven points, to make the journey safer for the disabled.

"It is important to place tiles with different textures on railway platforms near the disabled coaches on all suburban stations, and to inspect beepers installed there, to see if they are functional," the letter by Singh states.

Some other demands include making the IRCTC website disabled-friendly, a help desk at all stations at a standardised place, wider disabled coaches in all trains, announcements about location of divyang coach and flexibility for accompanying escorts onboard trains. A random survey by mid-day revealed that tactile tiles have been placed at a few stations, though at many places they do not exactly sync with the divyang coach.

The beepers, however, are placed at all stations. "We are all for the convenience of divyangjan. We will examine the suggestions forwarded by them," said Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer of CR.

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