Pune municipal corporation officials take lessons on making public places disabled-friendly
The full day experiential workshop was held on October 31 (recently) at universal design centre of Maharshi Karve stree shikshan samstha’s Dr Bhanuben Nanavati college of architecture (BNCA), Karve nagar and was conducted by professors Kavita Murugkar and Abhijit Murugkar
In a view of taking a step towards achieving accessibility in public spaces, a total of 80 road department officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) were trained and sensitised on providing universal accessibility to streets for people with disabilities and senior citizens. The full day experiential workshop was held on October 31 (recently) at universal design centre of Maharshi Karve stree shikshan samstha’s Dr Bhanuben Nanavati college of architecture (BNCA), Karve nagar and was conducted by professors Kavita Murugkar and Abhijit Murugkar.
“This is a first of its kind workshop in Maharashtra, and the basic intent is to take a big step towards making Pune friendly for all,” said Kavita Murugkar. The workshop focused on enlightening the officers about the various difficulties faced by people with disabilities and senior citizens while accessing public facilities or navigating through city.
“According to rights for persons with disabilities Act 2016, all the buildings and roads in the city should be made accessible for the disabled persons and so the workshop is a definitive step in the direction. The provisions made for people with disabilities only add more comfort and safety to all citizens and hence must be integrated right from planning stages,” she added.
Anurag Kashyap, principal BNCA, superintending engineer PMC roads department Aniruddha Pawaskar and state commissioner of persons with disabilities Ruchesh Jaivanshi were also present for the workshop.
Jaivanshi said, “The workshop is a welcome pro-active initiative which will help enhance city facilities including those ongoing on Jangali Maharaj road and make them more accessible for people with disabilities. All of us are disabled in some way or the other and ageing, hence this is a need for all.”
According to Pawaskar, the workshop also ushered the beginning of a more inclusive approach towards developing the street infrastructure, especially in lieu of smart city projects.
At the workshop, architect professor Abhijeet Murugkar, elaborated on technical aspects of achieving accessibility and how these can be procured. The engineers, as part of the exercise were made to experience the practical difficulties for differently-abled individuals through role-play activities.
Currently, a total of 35 central government buildings out of 50, in Pune are disabled friendly, and professor Kavita Murugkar and Abhijeet Murugkar had been working towards the same, with the team that completed retrofitting and changes at the said spaces to make them accessible to all people with disabilities and senior citizens.