Marina Beach to have permanent ramp for the specially-abled

The Marina Beach in Chennai which attracts thousands of tourists daily is all set to have a permanent ramp for the specially-abled persons, officials said.

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials are in talks with the disability rights activists to change the structure  currently temporary, into a permanent one.

A temporary 200 metre long wooden structure was laid in December 2021 and the corporation has also laid a small demo pathway using a new geo-synthetic material.

The rights activists have, however, complained several times that the ramp gets lumpy during rains. 

This led to people with disabilities using a wheel-chair not able to move through the ramp. 

A senior GCC official told IANS: "We thought that the geo-synthetic material used as ramp temporarily would be helpful to the wheel-chair bound disabled people. However, after holding discussions with the disability rights activists, we came to know that people using wheel chairs are comfortable in using wooden material for a permanent ramp."

While a wooden ramp will cost Rs 2.5 crore, the ramp that is made of geo-synthetic material costs Rs 30 lakh.

Tamil actor Sivakarthikeyan has already informed the GCC authorities that he would bear part of the cost of the ramp. Meanwhile, disability right activists said that the safety aspects for the disabled people must be taken into consideration. 

Vaishnavi Jaikumar of the Disability Alliance told IANS: "There needs to be trained life guards always on alert and the floating wheel chairs needs to be operated by trained swimmers."