NEW DELHI: A commissioner in the office of the chief commissioner for persons with disabilities S Govindaraj’s newly allotted apartment in the Central Government Residential Complex in the heart of the city on Deendayal Upadhyay Marg is making news as it has been retrofitted to show the way to others on what an “accessible home” should feel like. Responding to the Commissioner for PwDs requirements, Central Public Works Department has over the past four months carried out various changes. For instance, as one steps into the lobby of the building, tactile paving meant to guide visually impaired persons has been marked outside the lift area. The lift has braille buttons and grab bars.On the second floor, as the lift door opens the tactile track emerges and leads one to his flat and runs through the apartment’s drawing room guiding one to the conference room and the retrofitted toilet with handrails and a widened door space to enable a wheelchair user too. Govindaraj highlights handrails on the walls and the cushioned material added to the hard edges of the pillars to prevent injury incase one mistakenly runs into the wall. In the bedroom a system of dual switches has been installed to enable him to switch on the lights from near his bed rather than walk up to the main board near the entry of the room. And since Govindaraj likes to cook sometimes, the kitchen counters have more space now. Govindaraj said this retrofitting exercise is also a way to bring focus on the daily needs of PwDs and ensure dignity for all the PwDs who will be visiting the premises. “For instance smart switches to operate lights and fans, voice guided system in lifts and seamless handrails are not luxuries but necessities for PwDs. These too should be included in retroffiting and I will be raising awareness about these requirements,” he added. Department of Empowerment of PwD secretary and chief commissioner for PwDs, Rajesh Aggarwal said the retrofitting exercise was an important attempt to not only reinforce the need for providing accessible housing to a PwD but also showcase how affordable solutions for retrofitting can be enabled in the housing sector. “We will be working with CPWD to see how procedures can be made more enabling to address necessary retrofitting requirements for existing housing which may not be in the list as of now,” Aggarwal said.
