News

Volume 3 Issue 13 - July 01, 2005

Public buildings flaunting disability regulations not to be certified: M.C.D.

DNIS News Network - The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (M.C.D.) may be getting its act together in the wake of severe criticism for failing to address the issue of disability access in its draft plan for new building byelaws released a few weeks ago.

M.C.D. Commissioner Rakesh Mehta has said that the civic body would no longer issue completion certificates to public buildings that do not conform to disability regulations.

‘‘The mandatory disabilities provision will be implemented strictly in all public buildings. Only private homes will be exempt from this provision. So far we have decided that only buildings that will be constructed from now on will be brought under the purview of this law,’’ he was quoted in the media as saying.

The task force working on the revised building byelaws has included a section specifying the access codes and standards. It has also been reported that developers of buildings that are not private homes would now have to submit accessibility report that will be submitted along with the application for a building permit.

The format of the accessibility report will be determined by Office of the Chief Commissioner for Disabilities. The accessibility reports of all buildings will also be ‘web-enabled’ which would enable M.C.D. officials to check the conformity of the new buildings to the bylaws.

In a letter to the M.C.D, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) had made recommendations for making the new byelaws sensitive to accessibility needs of persons with disability, as the M.C.D. draft for changes in building byelaws had skirted the issue of access for persons with disability.