While traffic snarls in Mumbai sometimes take all day for an individual to commute, the availability of local trains, foot-over-bridges and skywalks help in making the commuter’s life easier and faster. However, the same cannot be claimed for the city’s senior citizens and specially-abled people.
The BMC has recently been directed by the Bombay HC to install mechanical walkways and elevators at both ends of skywalks to help the senior citizens and persons with disabilities in commuting every day, a PTI report said.
It’s not that modern travel technology is not available for senior citizens and specially abled people elsewhere in Mumbai. In fact, the Central and Western railways as also the Metro Rail have provided such mechanisms at several railway stations including escalators. The court too had pointed this out, as per the report.
From a safety point of view, if the elevators are installed at both ends of skywalks, it will not only make it easy for the said section of people to travel but also make it more safe for them.
Mumbai skywalks have always been in the center of debate where activists have many times raised the accessibility issue for disabled persons. Building facilities for them and senior citizens is actually the government’s social responsibility which should be upheld on all accounts. The court has also asked BMC to make the existing skywalks more ideal so that they complete their purpose of construction, as per the report.