168 buildings now accessible to the differently-abled

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has so far made 168 government buildings approachable for differently-abled persons in the country under the ‘Accessible India Campaign’, an initiative of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD).

According to the infrastructure building agency, the work of making all the central government buildings accessible-friendly for differently-abled persons will be completed by August this year.

“Out of 219 central government buildings, 168 buildings have been made differently-abled friendly. Remaining 51 buildings will be made fully accessible by August this year.

“We have given estimates to concerned departments to carry out an exercise for making their buildings fully accessible,” CPWD Director General Prabhakar Singh told PTI.

He said, as part of making buildings differently-abled friendly, facilities such as the installation of ramps, panels on Braille script, are undertaken.

Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) also recently decided to carry out an audit of all the government buildings constructed by it to find out their accessibility to differently-abled persons in the national capital.

The PWD carries out the construction of the Delhi government buildings, including offices, hospitals, schools, among others.

Apart from this, the CPWD has taken initiatives for generation of renewable energy in government buildings. Solar plants of 5.3 MVVp capacity have been installed in 40 government buildings across the country.

According to the CPWD, the agency has also facilitated installation of rooftop solar PV plants in other central government buildings where electricity bills are being paid directly by the owner/user departments.