Delhi High Court has asked Railways to provide humanitarian assistance for the convenience of visually impaired people.
New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Wednesday has given an important instruction regarding the convenience of visually impaired people traveling by train. The court has asked the Railways to provide free human assistance to the visually impaired at major stations. A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan was hearing a suo motu petition on making rail travel disabled-friendly. The bench asked the Railways to consider providing this facility on its own or through CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives.
‘The visually impaired do not have the facility of free escort’
Senior advocate S., who appeared as a court friend to help the court. Of. Rungta told the court that the Railways has provided wheelchairs at stations but has refused to provide free escort or assistant to the visually impaired. Rungta urged the court to take a decision on this issue. Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora’s bench told the government lawyer, ‘There is so much unemployment. Assistant will move the wheelchair. (If money is a problem) you can start some CSR initiatives.
Court said, start facility in big cities
The government lawyer said there are more than 10,000 railway stations in the country and there are ‘practical difficulties’ in providing free humanitarian aid. The court said, ‘You are in the metropolis. Start at Delhi, Calcutta, big stations. The court fixed March 20 as the next hearing date of the case and asked the Railways to submit an additional affidavit. The court had taken suo motu cognizance of this issue on the basis of a news in 2017. According to the news, the door of the special compartment for the disabled was closed and that year a young man could not appear for the MPhil examination in Delhi University.
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