Karthik Madhavan
| Demand for friendly public convenience facilities not considered |
COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation came under criticism from the differently abled people in the city, who said they had been left out in the recent budget.
The civic body on February 23 presented the 2011-12 budget. It said it would incur Rs. 20 crore in deficit while spending Rs. 415.56 crore for the city's development.
One of the highlights of the budget was Mayor R. Venkatachalam's announcement that the Corporation would build children-friendly toilets across the city.
The exercise was aimed at helping children learn hygiene.
The physically-challenged people said their demand for friendly public convenience facilities across the city was not considered.
Surya Nagappan of Caliber, an organisation that worked for the challenged people, said all the public toilets, both paid and free, were unusable.
The floors were tiled, wet and thereby slippery making it difficult for a person moving with crutches. The public convenience facilities mostly had Indian toilets that were impossible for challenged persons to use.
Besides, there was no way a wheelchair-using physically challenged could enter the toilet complexes and manoeuvre to access the toilet. For people who used crutches and special shoes it was a tedious exercise.
Nagappan said it was difficult for these people to get up after using the lavatory because there was no grip on the wall for support and added that physically-challenged students at Corporation schools also faced similar problems.
Stating that as per the 2001 census, there were more than 70,000 differently abled people in Coimbatore, Mr. Nagappan said the city needed special toilets at the railway junction, Gandhipuram bus stand, Mettupalayam Road bus stand, Singanallur bus stand and at a few other places in the city.
He emphasised that the civic body was bound to provide facilities for people with special needs because India was a signatory to the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Code of conduct
A Corporation official, on conditions of anonymity, said there was no bar on the civic body in providing such facilities but no announcement or commitment could be made now as the Model Code of Conduct for the ensuing Assembly elections was in force.
Mayor R. Venkatachalam said as soon as the Model Code of Conduct was lifted, he would consult all political parties and take the Council's approval before constructing special toilets, as the demand was genuine.
http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/07/stories/2011030762850800.htm
