The New Indian Express ·
Saidapet bus shelter ramp sparks ‘comedy of errors’ jibe from activists
CHENNAI: Two weeks after a few disability activists pointed out the difficulty faced by wheelchair users in accessing an under-construction bus shelter in Saidapet, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has added a switchback ramp to the facility. But, activists said the new ramp is also too steep for wheelchair users.
The bus shelter near the Saidapet Metropolitan Magistrates Court on Taluk Office Road is being constructed at a cost of Rs 15 lakh. The shelter had come under scrutiny for being nearly two feet above road level, with six steps and a steep ramp.
Vaishnavi Jayakumar of Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) said the new ramp is also steep and difficult for wheelchair users to negotiate. “Are we trying to make this a comedy of errors?” she asked on X, tagging the deputy mayor and the GCC. Corporation officials said the matter would be looked into and rectified.
Activists said similar accessibility issues remain at a bus shelter in Kotturpuram, where a concrete structure has been built at a cost of around Rs 22 lakh. Speaking to TNIE, Sathish Kumar of DRA said, “The roof is half-a-foot away from the shelter, so buses have to stop about one foot away to avoid hitting the roof.
So, how is level-boarding possible?” GCC officials said the Kotturpuram shelter has also been raised by about one-and-a-half feet due to a stormwater drain and a 33-kV TNEB cable that runs underneath it.
Activists said the GCC is not following its own Inclusive Design Manual, which specifies, among other things, that ramps should not be steeper than a gradient of 1:12.