Tamil Nadu’s Disabled-Friendly Public Buildings Limited

The Director for the Welfare of the Differently Abled has informed the Madras High Court that of the 49,550 public buildings in Tamil Nadu, India, only 26,769 had ramps and handrails at the main entrance and, although 40,476 buildings had doors that could be accessed freely by the disabled, only 1,209 had elevators with Braille raised numbers on the control panel, The Hindu reports. In addition, the Public Works Department (PWD) maintains the maximum number of 45,782 government buildings. Of those PWD buildings, only 23,856 had ramps and handrails and 333 had Braille raised number on elevator control panels. According to the source, only 54% of public buildings can be accessed by the disabled. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, came into force in April 2017. The law requires old public buildings to be made disabled-friendly within five years, and accordingly, the deadline for retrofitting the buildings is June 2022.