PM Narendra Modi to launch Accessible India campaign today

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday launch Accessible India campaign in the national capital on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

It is a nationwide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities and to create an enabling and barrier free environment, with a focus on Built Environment, Public Transportation and Information and Communication Technologies.

It seeks to make government buildings and public transportation disabled-friendly.

By this campaign, at least 50 percent of all the government buildings of New Delhi and all the state capitals will be converted into fully accessible buildings by July 2018.

All the international airports will be converted into fully accessible international airports by July 2016.

All A1, A and B categories of railway stations in the country will be converted into fully accessible railway stations by July 2016.

At least 10 percent of government-owned public transport carriers in the country will be converted into fully accessible carriers by March 2018.

At least 50 percent of all public documents issued by the central government and the state governments will meet accessibility standards by March 2018.

The campaign is also in the process of developing a web portal along with a mobile application for creating a crowd sourcing platform to get information about inaccessible places, processing information for approving proposals and channelising CSR resources for creating of accessible spaces.

An Accessibility Index is also underway to measure the level of disabled friendliness of a system. On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi will confer the national awards on outstanding persons with disabilities and individuals and organisations that are working for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. Fifty-one individuals and institutions have been approved for the awards this year.