Facilities provided will include wheelchairs, disabled-friendly toilets, Braille signages, tactile floors or pathways, railings and ramps.
Soon enough, differently-abled visitors at some of the country's prominent tourist places will be able to access monument and artefacts without any discomfort. An initiative, jointly worked out by the culture and the social justice and empowerment ministries, will have 50 prominent monuments accessible for the disabled friendly soon. Some of the prominent monuments include the capital's Qutab Minar, Red Fort, and Humayun's tomb, Konark's Sun Temple, Puri's Jagannath Temple, the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, etc.
Facilities provided will include wheelchairs, disabled-friendly toilets, Braille signages, tactile floors or pathways, railings and ramps. The initiative will be jointly carried out by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
"The project, to be taken up nationwide, will be carried out in a phased manner, keeping in mind the security provisons in several places," said a ministry official. On the offing is also some prominent railways stations. The official added that the ministry is also working on fitting solar panels is some prominent monuments to generate eletricity for these monuments.
The ASI has been working on making several monuments accessibility friendly, over the last few years. The Taj Mahal, Tipu Sultan's Palace, Fatehpur Sikri, Aga Khan Palace, Ajanta and Ellora Caves have been relatively accessible due to their efforts.
There are over 50 lakh disabled people in India. Census data says that over 3-4% of India's population are differently-abled; however, the World Health Organisation pegs that at over 9%.
Differently-abled activist, Pt Vikas Sharma, chairman of Disabled Helpline India says that he has approached the culture minister, Mahesh Sharma, after a recee visit to Jageshwar in Nainital.
"We carry out routine checks in several tourist and pulbic places. In Jageshwar temple at Almora, included in the list, there were steep stairs, but no provision for the differently-abled, neither were any parking lot spaces for us and pick and drop facilities," said Sharma. "I applaud the ministry must it include us in its efforts for practical solutions. In other countries, a lot of has been done to make public spaces comfortable for us. India still has a lot more to do."
Some monuments in the list:
Buddhist monuments -- Sanchi
Champaner monuments -- Champaner
Elephenta Caves -- Gehra Surgad
Ranthambor Fort -- Ranthambor
Chittaurgarh Fort -- Chittaurgarh
Leh Palace -- Leh
Sarnath -- Varanasi
Rang Ghar -- Sibsagar
St Francis Church -- Cochin
Golconda Fort -- Hyderabad
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Taj Mahal")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}