Footpaths turn stumbling blocks for disabled

Amid all the hoopla about making public office buildings more accessible for the physically-challenged, the footpaths in the City continue to be disabled-unfriendly.

Uneven surface, wide and gaping pits and heaps of garbage strewn on pedestrian way have rendered walking on footpaths a perilous experience even for people without any disability. 

The plan of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to construct footpaths with guiding/warning floor material to prevent persons with visual impairment bumping into any obstacles or walk into a gutter still remains on paper.

“Disabled-friendly footpaths are a myth in Bangalore. The footpaths are so potholed that I am forced to walk on roads while going to work,” Subramanya, a physically-challenged person said. Srinivas, Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of the Blind, said whenever questioned about disabled-friendly footpaths, people talk about Brigade Road and MG Road. 

“But the question is, how many disabled venture into that part of the City? For example, consider Jeevanbima Nagar where we have our head office. We have so many blind people but horrendous footpaths. A lot of visually-impaired migrate to Bangalore for opportunities and the City isn’t making their life any more comfortable,” he said.

Victor Johan Kadero of Leonard Cheshire Disability, a non-governmental organisation, says that advertisement hoardings, electricity poles, parked vehicles and hawkers make walking on footpaths a difficult task for the physically-challenged.

“Railing should be built to guide us as to where the footpaths start and end. Building footpaths is not expensive and the government should take an interest in making them friendly to all users,” he said. 

Extremely helpless

Gnaneshwari and Radha, wheelchair-bound students at the Association of People with Disability (APD), say they feel extremely helpless when they have to be helped on the footpaths all the time. 

“Every time we pass a pile of garbage, someone has to lift our wheelchair for us, because otherwise it will get trapped,” they said. They said hawkers obstruct their movement and they end up on roads ultimately.

Another problem that they face is getting off the footpath once they reach their destination. 

The ends of footpaths should have a gentle slope so that the wheelchairs can descend with ease. The openings for drainage on footpaths also obstruct their movement.

Basavaraj, Executive Director, APD, said that the Palike should construct disabled-friendly footpaths in a one kilometre radius of less crowded areas and follow the model in other areas of the City.