Lok Sabha Question No. 772 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Buses for Disabled Persons
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: Shashi Tharoor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT DEPARTMENT OF EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

## LOK SABHA

## 772.     DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state

(a)  the  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  the  implementation  of  disability  rights  and accessibility for persons  with  disabilities across various  sectors  under  the  Accessible India Campaign;

(b) whether the Government is aware that just 6% of 1.4 lakh buses are fully accessible for disabled persons, despite the initial targets set under the Accessible India Campaign of 25 percent by June 2022, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and;

(c) the reasons for the extension of the target till March 2024?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SUSHRI PRATIMA BHOUMIK)

(a) Sir, to ensure the implementation of disability rights and accessibility for persons with disabilities across various sectors under the targets of the Accessible India Campaign, the measures taken and achievement made so far by the Government is attached at Annexure-I .

(b)  Ministry  of  Road  Transport  and  Highways  has  issued  the  Accessibility  Guidelines  for  Bus terminals and Bus Stops on 29.08.2022 which covers the planning and design aspects of areas in bus ports/bus terminals and bus stops, so that these areas can be made accessible to all. Special emphasis has been laid on ensuring ease of access for the use of these facilities by end users. The aim is to ensure seamless inclusion of Divyangjan, irrespective of their disability in the context of accessibility to any such infrastructure. Following is the status of Government owned buses for the month of May 2023:

## Accessibility of Buses

| Nos. of Buses held by SRTUs   |   Total Nos. buses |   of Nos. accessible/Fully accessible buses | of % age accessibility   | of     |
|-------------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------|
| Intercity Operations          |             101841 |                                       27133 | 27%                      |        |
| Urban Operations              |              44361 |                                       24022 |                          | 54%    |
| Total                         |             146202 |                                       51155 |                          | 34.99% |

(c)  As  the  Ministry  is  implementing  Creation  of  Barrier  Free  Environment  sub-scheme  under  the Scheme for Implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (SIPDA) with similar objective therefore the sunset date for the Accessible India Campaign (AIC) has been set for March 2024 after  which  AIC  will  be  merged  with  the  Creation  of  Barrier  Free  Environment  component under SIPDA.

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 772 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2023

## Buses for Disabled Persons

Annexure  referred  to  in  part  (a)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  772  raised  by DR. SHASHI THAROOR for answer on 25.07.2023 regarding ' Buses for Disabled Persons'

## Achievements made under the targets of the Accessible India Campaign

|   Sl No | Target                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Government Buildings: Target 1.1 : Completing accessibility audit of at least 25-50 most important government buildings in 50 cities and making them fully accessible; Target 1.2 : Making 50% of all the government buildings of the National Capital and all the State Capitals fully accessible; Target 1.3 : Completing accessibility audit of 50% of government buildings and making them fully accessible in 10 most important cities/towns of states not covered in targets 1.1 and 1.2; | For Target (1.1) - State Government buildings  In the State Governments / UTs, auditors completed Access Audit of 1671 buildings in 48 cities. 1671 access audit reports have been submitted to the State's/UTs Nodal Officers. Further, financial proposals for retrofitting of 1484 buildings have been received so far. Sanction has been issued by the Department in respect 1314 buildings and 20 States/UTs have reported to have completed retrofitting work in 611 buildings. For Target 1.2 and 1.3 8 States/UTs have informed that 2851 State Government buildings have been selected to be made accessible under Targets/Phases (1.2) and (1.3) from their own funds and reported work completion in 354 buildings. For Central Government building under the targets of built up environment:  In the Central Government, CPWD reported completion of retrofitting work in 1100 Central Government buildings targeted under |
|       2 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Airports Target 2.1 and 2.2 - Airports: All international airports and domestic airports to be made fully accessible;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |  All 35 international airports & 55 out of 69 domestic airports provided with accessibility features (ramps, accessible toilets, helpdesks and lifts with Braille and auditory information systems), Further, all international/customs airport are reported to have been provided with aerobridges.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |

|   3 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Railway Stations Target 3.1 and 3.2 - Railways: A1, A & B categories of railway stations to be made fully accessible; 50% of all railway stations to be made fully accessible;                                                                                       |  All 709 A1, A & B category railway stations have been made fully accessible, 4068 railway stations have been made partially accessible.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|-----|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   4 | Target of enhancing the proportion of Accessible Public Transport Target 4.1 - Buses: 10% of Government owned public transport carriers are to be made fully accessible;                                                                                                                                              |  MoRTH has reported that out of 1,46,202 buses, 51,155 (34.99%) buses are accessible /fully accessible and out of 3533 bus station, 3120 are made accessible in respect of 24 States/UTs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|   5 | Target of Enhancing proportion of accessible and usable public documents and websites Target 5.1 and 5.2 - Websites: At least 50% of Central and State Government websites are to meet accessibility standards; 50% of all public documents issued by the Central and State Governments meet accessibility standards; |  A total of 637 State Governments' websites have been made accessible including 474 websites made live so far.  95 websites of Central Government Ministries/Departments are made accessible by MEITY under the Content Management Framework so far.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|   6 | Target 6.1 - Sign Language Interpreters Training and Developing 200 additional sign language interpreters:                                                                                                                                                                                                            |  The Government has established Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, in September 2015. The main objective of the Centre is to develop manpower for using, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language.  ISLRTC has informed that more than 1000 persons have been trained in Indian sign language through Diploma and Short Term Courses of ISLRTC.  Total 116 students have completed Diploma in Indian Sign Language Interpretation (DISLI) course in three academic sessions during 2016- 17 to 2019-21. ISLRTC was running DISLI course for the academic year 2020-22 having total 77 students. |

| 7   | Target 7.1 and 7.2 - T.V Viewing: (a) Public television news - National standards on captioning and sign language interpretation are to be created and adopted; (b) At least 25% of public television programmes on government channels are to comply with the set standards   |  Accessibility standards for accessible TV viewing by persons with hearing impairment have already been issued by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) for providing for sub-titling, sign language interpretation along with accessibility for televisions sets, remote controls, equipment and internet content. Further, MoIB has to formulate similar guidelines for other disabilities including visual impairment.  Accessible content on TV is also being enhanced in a phased manner and so far 19 private news channels are telecasting partially accessible news bulletin, 2447 news bulletins have been telecast with subtitling/sign-language interpretation and more than 3686 scheduled programs/movies using subtitling have been telecast by general entertainment channels.   |
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