Persons with Disabilities face pedestrian plaza accessibility issues in T Nagar since 2019

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation held a workshop on Friday here in the city to make the city pedestrian friendly. But Persons with Disabilities (PwD) said the T Nagar pedestrian plaza accessibility issues have not been solved since 2019. They also added that there are many walkways in the city that are inaccessible for them.

"Wheel chair users require platforms that are wide in size in T Nagar. When I visited the pedestrian plaza, I was unable to park my wheelchair scooter due to a lack of space. The ramps, which the corporation said were constructed for differently abled people, were missing. Platforms are also at a height that is not accessible for differently abled," said Gnana Bharathi from the Spinal Injured Persons Association.

"There are many pavements in the city that were made by the GCC which are currently not in use due to poor maintenance, and some of them are taken over by the hawkers. For instance, in many main locations there is no pavement on the roads, forcing the differently abled, especially the visually impaired, to walk through the roads taking risk. And in places where there are pavements, they are mostly encroached upon by vehicles. There must be personnel to maintain these pavements. The floors must also be tactile for the visually impaired, " said K. Raghuraman, Advisor of the Karna Vidya Foundation.

When contacted, an official attached to the GCC said that there are ramps that are provided for differently abled people in the pedestrian plaza in T Nagar.

If there is any issue found in the pedestrian plaza, it will be rectified as soon as it is brought to our attention.