Marina Beach accessible to differently abled now
Four beach wheelchairs have been provided by the city corporation since 2019 and the Tamil Nadu tourism department has also lent its amphibious wheelchair from the blue flag certified Kovalam beach to enable people with disabilities to float in, officials said.
People with disabilities were able to enjoy the sea closely on Tuesday after Chennai municipal corporation, with the help of disability rights activists, constructed a temporary pathway from the main road up to the shore at the Marina beach, making it wheelchair accessible.
Four beach wheelchairs have been provided by the city corporation since 2019 and the Tamil Nadu tourism department has also lent its amphibious wheelchair from the blue flag certified Kovalam beach to enable people with disabilities to float in, officials said.
The temporary pathway is made every December to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls on December 3. Last year this was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this year it was delayed due to incessant rains in November. Civic officials are working on making this a permanent facility by using materials that are compliant with CRZ norms.
“This is just amazing,” said Preethu Jayaprakash, a wheelchair user, who has spinal muscular atrophy. “We are also getting a chance to see the sea from up close.”
“After a long wait in exclusion and isolation, children and adults with disabilities Chennai could go to the beach, look up at the blue sky, take a breath of fresh air, go up to the waters, touch the waves, relax, rejuvenate and laugh in the outdoors,” said Smitha Sadasivan, member, Disability Rights Alliance (DRA). “This pathway brings in a strong air of hope that this will soon materialise into a permanent pathway and that’s what GCC Commissioner (Gagandeep Singh Bedi) too assured today.”
DRA in Tamil Nadu has been working with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) since 2016 to execute a permanent pathway for two beaches, Marina, which is considered the second-longest in the world and Elliot’s beach.
“A temporary path made of wood has been laid for 200 meters from the point of the road access up to the beach,” said an official of the GCC. “We are exploring materials that we can use to make this a permanent structure without damaging the beach’s ecology.”
Based on a request from the community, the temporary arrangement has been extended up from January 3 up to 16 by the minister for municipal administration, K N Nehru, said a statement from the GCC. Besides Nehru, a couple of other ministers, MPs and MLAs also inaugurated the access to the beach on Tuesday.