Disabled Friendly Buses For Mumbai

It was a milestone in the fight for the rights of the physically disabled in the city when the Bombay High Court recently ordered the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking to purchase, within three months, 30 new buses that have facilities for the disabled, including wheelchair.  

A bench comprising Chief Justice C K Thakker and Justice S A Bobde insisted that physically disabled persons must have access to at least some buses in its 3,000-odd fleet.  They should be designed so as to enable a person in a wheelchair to board and alight.  Justice Bobde said that it was unfortunate that not even a single wheelchair user could travel by the ubiquitous red bus.  

The court said the new buses should comply with Section 44 of the Persons with Disabilities Act, which stipulates easy access for the disabled in the travel sector.  The order came in response to an application made by the BEST.  The undertaking was seeking the court’s permission to purchase an additional 1,016 buses to augment its existing fleet of over 3,000 buses. 

In 2001, the HC while hearing a public interest Litigation (PIL) field by students of a Pune law college-Indian Law Society-seeking better facilities for the disabled, specially in the public transport sector, had directed all transport undertaking in the state to seek its permission before purchase of new buses.  The court had imposed this condition to ensure that the transport sector complies with provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act.  Amogh paralikar, counsel for the Pune students, argued that the disabled here have hardly any facilities like low floor buses.  BEST counsel Harinder Tur argued that low floor buses were not suitable because of poor road conditions.  He also claimed that the BEST has taken “all necessary measures” to enable the disabled persons to travel by bus. 

Information courtesy: Times News Network

Source: Success & Ability

Date: April-June 2004