VITHALDAS HEGDE
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PANJIM: From being unable to enter village panchayat offices to being stranded on the ground floor during court battles, the daily institutional exclusion of Goa’s disability community has taken centre stage amidst the State’s new retrofitting push.
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While authorities highlight ongoing accessibility audits across 800 educational and administrative facilities, grassroots testimonies paint a darker picture of systemic neglect. Activists are now demanding immediate, independent expert audits, revealing that multi-crore public projects still leave wheelchair-bound users completely stranded outside counting halls and public restrooms.
While, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has started retrofitting 24 old government buildings across the State to make them accessible for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), the Disability Rights Association of Goa (DRAG) has challenged the government’s claims regarding the scope and effectiveness of the work, contending that the measures implemented so far fall short of ensuring meaningful accessibility.
Director of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Varsha Naik, said that the Public Works Department (PWD) has already floated tenders for all retrofitting works. She informed that around 800 government and government-aided school buildings across the State have been audited for accessibility and 235 of these schools have been selected in the first phase for retrofitting through State government funding.
Naik stated that five college buildings have also been identified for accessibility improvements and the list has been forwarded to the Directorate of Higher Education for necessary action. Additionally, 11 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) have been shortlisted, and the retrofitting work in these institutes will be undertaken by the Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The PWD has been appointed as the nodal department for implementing the works.
“Every year the government allocates a budget for accessibility-related works. This year, we have received Rs 9 crore. So far, Rs 1.5 crore has been paid to the contractor handling works in the South Goa district, while the contractor undertaking works in the North Goa district is yet to raise his bills,” Naik said.
According to Naik, retrofitting work under Phase I of the Government of India funds of Accessible India Campaign has already been completed in several buildings. She added that the State government has now commenced work on creating a barrier-free environment in 24 old government buildings utilising the sanctioned budget.
The Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has now initiated the process of verifying the roster registers of every government department to ascertain the backlog of vacant posts reserved for persons with disabilities.
However, DRAG president Avelino De Sa strongly disagreed with the government’s claims that the buildings have been made fully accessible. He said that while some retro-fitting work has commenced, many public buildings still fail to meet basic accessibility standards for persons with disabilities.
“Several crores of rupees have been spent, but many buildings are still not accessible. The Directorate of Social Welfare building in Panjim does not have a lift. During Purple Fest, the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities announced that 150 buildings had been made accessible, but the reality is different,” De Sa said.
He pointed out that the Directorate of Education building lacks toilet facilities for persons with disabilities. He also alleged that key civic buildings such as the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) and the Margao Municipal Council still do not have lifts.
De Sa further claimed that government funds are being used to construct ramps for private banks, while several nationalised banks, hotels and restaurants, where accessibility is urgently needed continue to remain without ramps and other facilities for persons with disabilities.
DRAG member Vishant Nagvekar demanded that the retrofitting work be audited by accessibility experts. Pointing out several shortcomings, he said that washrooms in the wards and OPDs at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, are not accessible to persons with disabilities. He further claimed that similar issues exist in the new building at Porvorim that houses the offices of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and the Department of Transport. The lift in the building is narrow and if a wheelchair user is in, there is no place to stand for the person escorting him, he said.
Domingos Goes, a PwD from Velsao, highlighted the challenges he faces due to the lack of accessibility in public buildings. “There are many issues. I face difficulties visiting my village panchayat office because it is located on the first floor and there is no lift. I cannot even attend the gram sabha meetings. Whenever I have cases in the Vasco court, I have to remain on the ground floor as I am unable to access the court chamber on the first floor. In 2022, when I contested the panchayat elections, I could not enter the counting hall because it was also situated on the first floor,” he said.
