By HH Mohrmen
The first Monday of October is celebrated as the World Habitat Day the world over. Perhaps it is not out of place to look at our cities and towns and introspect at the kind of towns and cities we live in. All towns and cities in the state grow organically without any plan or design. There is no regulation on how land owners sell their lands for residential purposes and even construction rules laid by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority are flouted by builders and contractors. Only the Dorbar Shnong actually monitor the real estate business in Meghalaya but that is because they get their cut from the deal. When it comes to road construction in all the towns and the main city of Shillong people build houses first then the government constructs roads later. There is no semblance of planning whatsoever even in the new townships that are developing.
Is Shillong still the Pine City? Or is Shillong fast becoming a concrete jungle? Where have all the Pine trees gone? What about the suburbs of the city? Are there any mechanism to control and monitor the townships that are developing in these areas?
But the focus of this write up is on how accessible our city and towns and even government institutions are to the differently- abled people. Recently an accessible test was conducted by the Bethany Society on many locations of Jowai town including important government offices. It was found that the town and almost all the government offices including educational institutions are inaccessible for differently- abled people.
Jowai is the district headquarter of West Jaintia Hills District and it was also the head quarter of the erstwhile composite Jaintia hills district before it was bifurcated into two districts in 2012. It is one of the oldest towns in the state since the town was a sub divisional headquarter of the British government in the pre-independent period. Sadly Jowai remains as it used to be. Jowai now has more than 8 higher secondary schools, two colleges, two ITIs and one Polytechnic but this progressive town is inaccessible in many ways for the physically challenged people.
The Constitution of India guarantees equal rights to every citizen of this country irrespective of one’s caste, creed, religion or abilities, but physically challenged people are denied even their basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Subsequently the central government enacted the legislation called ‘People With Disability Act’ and other related laws but the fact of the matter is equal accessibility to government offices and public institutions is still a distant dream for the differently- abled.
Accessible even to the most important office of the district, the Deputy Commissioner’s office is difficult if not impossible for people with disability. The portion of the Jowai- Dawki roads NH 40 (E) in front of the DC’s office which is an approach to the DC’s Office is very narrow in the first place and this is worsened by the fact that hawkers are using much of the available free space to display their wares making it impossible for a wheelchair bound person to stroll through this busy road. Add to that, the indisciplined drivers and this makes passing through the busy road an arduous task for physically challenged people.
Both the entries to the DC’s office are so steep that it is impossible for any wheel chair bound individual to visit this very important office and for a visually challenged person the idea of parking the DC’s official car right at the entrance of his office is an obstruction in itself. The question here is whether the DC’s office is accessible to the physically challenged and visual and hearing impaired people? The office does now even have a ramp for wheel chair bound people to access the ground floor and now even if a physically challenged person is able to enter the ground floor of the DC’s Office with somebody’s help, reaching the various departments including the chamber of the DC is an impossible task without the help of good Samaritans who are difficult to find these days. The different floors of the DC’s Office are only connected by steps which makes it impossible for a wheel chair bound citizen to reach. Hence it is difficult if not impossible for the physically challenged to reach the DC’s office even for a simple scheduled tribe certificate. Questions can be asked if the DCs office in Shillong, Tura, Nongpoh or elsewhere are accessible to these citizens of the country? What about the State Secretariat? Are these ‘seats’ of government accessible to the differently abled people? It is the same case with the office of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council. There is no provision for a ramp in the multi-storeyed building thereby debarring differently- abled people from entering them.
It is a matter of regret that the new Jowai Civil Hospital which is located in ?along village, though a brand new building, was not constructed to be friendly towards people with disability. The approach to the hospital is very steep which will make it impossible for anyone in a wheel-chair to reach the hospital. The new Jowai Civil hospital is located on the National Highway 44 and in spite of it being a very busy highway; there is no traffic signal at the location. There are no zebra crossings on the highway to make it easier for the hearing impaired people to walk to and from the hospital. Talking about traffic signals, there are no traffic signs or zebra crossings in the entire town which makes it difficult if not impossible for hearing impaired persons to walk around in this town. This town and many other towns in the state are not friendly for the differently- abled people; the government should do more to address the needs of this very important section of the society.
The physically challenged, the visually and hearing impaired people are not asking any favour from the government and nor are they expecting their fellows citizen’s sympathy. All that they want is for the government to provide them with their basic rights as citizens which is guaranteed by the Constitution. They want to be independent as any citizen of this country is and why is the government denying them their rights?
This is but a small example of how the government neglects the rights of the differently- abled people. There are many more government buildings and institutions which are inaccessible for people with disability. All that they demand is for the government to respect their rights and provide them those basic human rights. On this World Habitat Day lets us spare a thought for our fellow citizens who have been neglected by the government. Let us remember that they also need a habitat where they can gain access to all their basic needs. The least the government can do is to make public buildings including schools and colleges and toilets in these buildings accessible to the differently- abled people. Is this too much to ask from the government?