Thiruvananthapuram Corporation inaccessible for disabled

Thiruvananthapuram: The Corporation main office is not accessible to people with disabilities. The main building has no elevator. One encounters steps before getting to the ground floor offices, which includes the welfare pension enquiry office.   There are two elevators in the Annexe building, which is directly accessible from the road. However if the person enters from the main office side, the way towards the building is uneven because many vehicles are parked behind the Corporation.

Its first and second floors are connected to the main Corporation building as well. However there are steps leading to the ground floor. Even one step is an obstacle for a wheelchair-enabled person, according to Ashla Rani M P, who works with Pallium India. She has been using a wheelchair following an accident years ago, and has conducted accessibility audits at various places. “Whether it is three or ten steps, for a person who is disabled, the building becomes inaccessible. However, setting up a ramp or an elevator alone is not sufficient to make a building accessible,” she says.

In addition to the step next to the main toilet door, another hindrance is the lack of space inside toilets for wheelchairs to fit in, she says. It is difficult to fit a lift in the main building of the Corporation, as there are a lot of sunshades, according to an official. The sunshades would have to be cut. The Corporation is mooting a two-storey parking facility. An official said that if this building was connected to the main building at various levels, accessibility would increase. A person with a disability could be dropped at this building and could move to the main office using the lift, the official says. The proposal for this project is yet to be made.