Parliament Question: Accessible India Campaign

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT DEPARTMENT OF EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 5103 TO BE ANSWERED ON- 24/03/2026 ACCESSIBLE INDIA CAMPAIGN

5103. THIRU DR. S JAGATHRATCHAKAN:

Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state:

(a) the details of public buildings and infrastructure made accessible under the Accessible India Campaign, year and State-wise;

(b) the funds allocated and utilized for this campaign, State-wise, including Tamil Nadu;

(c) the percentage of Government buildings in Tamil Nadu that have been made barrier-free and the target timeline for achieving 100% accessibility; and

(d) the measures taken by the Government to address delays or challenges in implementing accessibility projects in Tamil Nadu and other States?" ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SHRI B L VERMA)

(a) to (c): The Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) was launched on 3rd December, 2015 as a participative, cross-sectoral, inter-ministerial and Centre-State collaborative nationwide flagship campaign for enhancing accessibility for Divyangjan under three categories of built environment, transport systems and Information and Communication Technology ecosystems. Since “works, lands and buildings vested in or in the possession of the State” is a State subject, and as per Sections 41, 44 and 45 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the appropriate Government is responsible for taking steps to ensure accessible built infrastructure, transport systems and accessible ICT for persons with disabilities and for conducting regular social audits and assessments.Accordingly, detailed year-wise physical progress of State Government buildings and the percentage of Government buildings made barrier-free, including in Tamil Nadu, are not maintained centrally. However, as per the available data, a total of 1844 government buildings have been made accessible, which includes 1100 Central Government buildings and 744 State/UT Government buildings in respect of which the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities(DEPwD) has released funds to the tune of Rs. 606.24 Crores till date.

Furthermore, funds to the tune of Rs. 7371 Lakhs have been disbursed for creation of barrier free environment in respect of 30 buildings/establishments in the State of Tamil Nadu. The State/UT wise details for the buildings/establishments funded by the Department under AIC is available at Annexure.

It is noteworthy that AIC has been subsumed from 01.04.2024 under the “Scheme for Creation of Barrier Free Environment (CBFE)” sub-scheme under SIPDA to ensure long-term continuity of ongoing accessibility efforts wherein grants are released only on demand basis for creation of barrier free environment in existing government buildings and websites. There is no separate budgetary allocation under the CBFE component and funds are released directly from the Umbrella scheme SIPDA itself.

(d): In order to facilitate the various State/UT Governments to address delays and challenges, including the State of Tamil Nadu, the Department has taken the following measures: i. Subsuming AIC under the CBFE sub-scheme under SIPDA to ensure long term continuity of accessibility efforts for supporting the various States/UTs on a demand-driven basis upon receipt of complete and compliant proposals for creation of barrier free environment in existing government buildings and establishments.

ii. For the guidance of appropriate government and stakeholders, universal design compliance standards for built environment along with digital accessibility standards have been notified under the Harmonised Guidelines and relevant provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.iii. The Department conducts regular follow ups with the concerned stakeholders including the State/UT Governments to expedite the release of GIA under the CBFE/AIC component of the Umbrella Scheme SIPDA through frequent correspondences and meetings for resolution of emergent matters.

iv. To further facilitate appropriate Governments and other service providers in undertaking accessibility audits, DEPwD has empanelled accessibility auditors in both built environment and web/digital domains. As on date, DEPwD has empanelledsixty (60) accessibility auditors for the built environment and sixteen (16) digital accessibility auditors for web accessibility.

The services of these empanelled access auditors can be directly engaged by the concerned authorities on mutually agreed terms and conditions, for conducting accessibility audits of both public and private infrastructures as per requirements.

*****Annexure AIC (Buildings/establishments funded, fund released and completed) Sl Total State/UT/Years No.

Physical Buildings/establishments Financial (Amount (No of Reported to be released in Rs.) buildings/establishments) Retrofitted 1 Andhra Pradesh 38 143,633,000 25 Arunachal 2 23 248,915,364 22 Pradesh 3 Assam 24 132,033,494 14 4 Bihar 21 92,514,500 21 5 Chattisgarh 47 276,858,005 20 6 Goa 30 54,383,495 21 7 Gujarat 46 59,231,865 24 8 Haryana 64 159,836,196 3 Himachal 9 11 43,946,885 0 Pradesh Jammu and 10 32 199,529,850 7 Kashmir 11 Jharkhand 14 116,685,449 0 12 Karnataka 47 270,864,864 0 13 Kerala 28 42,998,000 0 Madhya 14 89 304,756,952 19 Pradesh 15 Maharashtra 142 249,076,500 135 16 Manipur 28 158,775,631 0 17 Meghalaya 24 336,752,971 17 18 Mizoram 33 71,571,809 22 19 Nagaland 29 92,386,218 18 20 Odisha 40 197,546,902 26 21 Punjab 20 198,175,750 222 Rajasthan 88 381,300,000 78 23 Sikkim 35 64,237,113 35 24 Tamil Nadu 30 737,098,620 15 25 Telangana 16 91,923,632 7 26 Tripura 14 262,504,556 13 27 Uttar Pradesh 137 537,311,529 96 28 Uttarakhand 16 53,850,250 9 29 West Bengal 33 169,223,516 21 Andaman and 30 25 108,090,923 23 Nicobar Islands 31 Chandigarh 43 41,538,159 39 32 Delhi 18 139,377,596 12 33 Lakshadweep 0 - 0 34 Puducherry 29 27,315,850 0 Total 1,314 6,064,245,444 744 *****