HYDERABAD: Less than three weeks before the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 (GES) kicks off in the city , the civic authorities are busy dressing up the city in every possible way for the foreign dignitaries that are slated to troop into the city by the end of the month.

One such spruce-up exercise has the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) laying `tactile' pavements along some roads to make them friendly for the visually impaired. These 'tactile' pavements have block tiles and bars in the middle and on the sides to serve as indicators to make it easy for the visually impaired to detect them with the help of a walking stick or their feet.
We have selected certain stretches for these special pavements. At NFCL Junction, the existing pavement was dug up for laying cables and we had to lay a new one, so we opted for tactiles, which can assist those who cannot see," GHMC chief engineer, (ma intenance), Mohammad Ziauddin, told TOI.

It may be pertinent to point out that Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump, who will be heading the US delegation to the GES2017 at HICC, will travel through Nagarjuna Junction.

These tactile pavements will not only aid the visually impaired but will also help those with normal sight to walk easily without hurdles."At the end of the pavement, separate tactile tiles will be laid, signalling the end of the pavement portion. It can be detected easily," he said.

So far, tactile pavements are being used only in bus stations, railway stations and airports in the city. "We are doing it for the first time on city roads and its being constructed on both sides," he said.

Though the cost of tactile tiles is similar to the ones that were in use earlier, there is only one unit at Patanche ru manufacturing them in the city. "We have purchased them from this unit for the pavements," he said.
The GHMC CE clarified that the civic body is not constructing new tactile pavements, but is just laying them in places where old ones have been dismantled for various purposes.

Authorities are mulling constructing tactile pavements in other parts of the city in a phased manner, the GHMC official added.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/dressing-up-for-ivanka-tactile-pavements-for-visually-impaired/articleshow/61570210.cms