Patna, Sep 23 (PTI) The Bihar Building Construction department has instructed its engineers to ensure that all new state government buildings are accessible to people with disabilities.
The department has also directed officials to ensure that new government building plans comply with all accessibility features mentioned in the ‘Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility’ for making the buildings friendly for physically challenged persons.
“The existing government buildings must be retrofitted and made disabled friendly as per provisions of the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility in India-2021, notified by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry”, says the latest letter sent by the Bihar Building Construction department to its all Chief Engineers across the state.
The letter, dated September 18 said officials concerned must ensure that all new buildings should necessarily comply with all accessibility features mentioned in the Harmonised Guidelines. The accessibility features in new buildings include the construction of ramps, lifts, accessible toilets, accessible doorways and corridors, barrier-free floor plans, tactile tiles and signages and so on. The letter is in the possession of PTI.
Reacting to this, a senior official of the state Building Construction department, who did not wish to be quoted, said, “No construction of government buildings should be allowed to start unless the building plans, blueprints include all basic accessibility features. The Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility in India-2021 is a set of rules and standards for making the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and other facilities and services accessible for persons with disabilities (PwDs)”.
The existing buildings, which lack these facilities, must be retrofitted with ramps, staircases and other features.
The Union government has already released Harmonised Guidelines and Standards for Universal Accessibility in India 2021 that give detailed directives for making the buildings friendly for physically challenged persons.
These guidelines will work towards sensitizing, guiding and facilitating the approach towards implementing accessibility in all elements of the built environment and beyond, the official said.
The guidelines are a revision of the Harmonised guidelines and space standards for barrier-free built environment for persons with Disabilities and Elderly Persons. Earlier, the guidelines were for creating a barrier-free environment, but now the focus is on universal accessibility. Ramps are extremely crucial for providing an accessible mobility option, but it is equally important to understand that ramps have to adhere to given guidelines. The guidelines provide the gradient and length of ramps.
The Section 44 of the Harmonised guidelines and standards for universal accessibility in India 2021 states that no establishment shall be issued a certificate of completion or allowed to take occupation of a building unless it has adhered to the rules formulated by the central government. PTI PKD RG
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