Tactile tiles, which are virtually the guiding lights for the visually-impaired, are hardly of any use to them in the Capital. Sometimes they end up leading into drains, as outside the power station adjoining Delhi Secretariat; at other places they lead into obstacles like trees, poles or even a wall. This is so because while placing them is mandated under the civic and building guidelines, the sensitivity needed for such work is missing.

The Delhi Metro was the first to use them effectively in its premises, for leading the visually-impaired right from the station entry to the train coach and vice-versa. At its stations too, the tiles are now serving little purpose. Elsewhere, the situation is worse.

As mandated, the civic bodies began placing them on sidewalks in a big way in the run up to the Commonwealth Games. The approach being half-hearted, the result is catastrophic. Largely, these tiles either lead nowhere, or follow till a dead end, a tree, or even into an open manhole. Else they just end midway, are broken or encroached in between, creating further confusion for the visually-impaired.

Ignorance and indiscipline
To top it is people’s ignorance and civil indiscipline. Barely do people know that the blocks with straight lines are guiding blocks to give a smooth and hurdle-free accessibility to the visually-impaired and blocks with circular dots are warning blocks indicating the end of the destination, level difference, hurdle or change of direction, etc. Notably, those who install the tiles also do not know what they are for, and take them to be decorative pieces.

Further apathy can be gauged from the fact that the Delhi Transport Corporation buses do not stop where tactile tiles lead to the bus entry doors. Often, tile arrangements on metro stations also don’t hail the signs that could indicate where a particular line of tactile is leading to – platform or ticket counter, any check points or lifts. Same is the case for BRT corridors and roads which lack any indicators for the visually-impaired.

George Abraham is the Chief Executive Officer of Score Foundation, a non-profit organisation known for launching Project Eyeway as a single-stop knowledge resource for people living with blindness and low vision in 2002. He says: “There are three major issues associated with tactile tiles on railway stations, bus stops and BRT corridors – disorganised planning, ignorance, and indiscipline. The tiles could be placed strategically for better accessibility with standardised texture and symbols for the visually-impaired. This should have been in the context of the entire city, not only the metro, buses or BRT corridors.”

Mr. Abraham shares that he had recently created a special focus group which spoke to numerous visually-impaired people in the Capital who use these vehicles or walk on the road. “The findings are shocking. Some narrated that they fell off the metro track, some into open gutters, and some had hit their head against a tree, a wall or stood stranded against a dead-end leading nowhere. A colleague of mine who is blind and his wife partially-blind, fell into a gutter together in a market and had to undergo a long-drawn treatment. On the BRT Corridor near Moolchand, people park their car on the footpath. The visually-impaired following the tactiles have often banged into the cars. On the road from Moolchand to Greater Kailash, the tiles end midway. Such instances are not rare but regular,” he says.

Solution
A three-dimensional letter board at a reachable-touchable position at certain distances could be installed, feeling which a visually-impaired person could locate his/her destination and further turns. Footpaths need to be on regular heights like in foreign nations (example the US) where they are uniformly ramped. A colour and sign board orientation and an awareness campaign for the civil society are also needed.

Though the Delhi Metro makes a conscious effort to place the tactiles properly, DTC PRO Ravinder Minhas reasons that this area comes under Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation and DTC has no role in that. “Till 2012, we used to work with NGO Samarthayam (which works towards creating barrier-free environment) but after that it went under DTTDC,” he says.

But there is some hope. Score Foundation shared a presentation on the subject with DMRC, School of Planning and Architecture as well as Delhi’s Urban Development Department a week ago. “While DTC and MCD are not only ignorant but also unconcerned, Delhi Metro has been receptive,” concludes Mr. Abraham.

SOURCE: The Hindu