HC directs govt to procure differently-abled friendly buses

CHENNAI: In a silver lining outcome for the physically challenged section, the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State government that buses which will be procured for the state-run transport corporations should be differently-abled friendly.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala passed the direction on hearing a petition filed by Vaishnavi Jayakumar, an advocate, and differently-abled rights activist.

The activist prayed for a direction to restrain the State from procuring buses without considering differently-abled people. She further challenged a government order issued in February 2021 for procuring buses since it was against Section 42 of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016.

"As per the Act, when the government is procuring buses for public transport, it should procure at least 10 percent low floor buses and 25 percent buses with lift or any other facility easing differently-abled people to easily enter into the buses, " the petitioner submitted.

As the transport department submitted that it is to purchase 2213 buses and 900 electric buses in the next few years, the bench wanted the State to ensure that all the buses should be differently-abled friendly to enable the physically challenged section to have easy access.

Recently, the State transport department informed the Madras High Court that it would procure 242 low floor/differently-abled friendly buses for the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) between 2022 and 2024.

According to the government, it has a plan to procure 644 new buses between 2022 and 2024, of which, 242 buses will be differently-abled friendly buses.

“The low floor buses will have a manual ramp to facilitate the differently-abled persons to enter into the buses. A road map was framed by a technical committee with members from various departments, ” the transport department noted.

The State also informed the HC that it has identified 954 bus stops in Chennai city where the Greater Chennai Corporation and other departments have to modify the bus stops making the low-floor buses have easy access to the bus stops.