North India Statesman
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Mumbai – The Bombay High Court on Monday expressed concern over the lack of proper facilities including wheelchairs for senior citizens and disabled at the country’s airports. The court said that since it is a case related to human life, precautionary measures are necessary. The High Court has asked to impose a fine on the airline companies failing to provide such facilities. The DGCA has been asked to set up a committee to prepare a study report to make rules on this matter.
The judge said that there should be facilities like timely arrangement of wheelchair so that the difficulties of tourists can be reduced. Kulkarni and Nya. Sethna’s bench said.
The court said that all the facilities should be provided voluntarily by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airline companies and should be taken care of to ensure that India is leading to setting up such an example.
Since this is a matter related to human life, no one should have any difficulty in this facility. The airport is expected to be expressed with the Management Authority and all airlines. We should be sensitive to this issue. Two petitions were being heard in the court. One application was filed by a senior citizen and his daughter and the other by a 53 -year -old man. In which the issue of shortage of wheelchairs and other facilities was raised at Mumbai International Airport.
Both mother and daughter said in the petition that the 81 -year -old woman had to leave a wheelchair for her daughter. The daughter was suffering from severe arthritis. After reaching Mumbai, he was given a single wheelchair in September 2023.
In the affidavit, the DGCA said that there is a shortage of wheelchairs at the airport due to several reasons including overbooking. However, the court did not accept this argument.
Precautionary measures are necessary. If a person is healthy and his health deteriorates, help may be required. Sometimes flights are delayed by hours. Common people do not have any problem, but senior citizens and disabled have a lot of trouble. The High Court said that the issue is related to thousands of tourists who face difficulties across the country every day.
The court suggested the DGCA to impose heavy fine on airline companies for negligence. When a passenger dies or a problem arises in the aircraft, it is considered negligent from the airline. The court said, it is a fundamental human right.
The rights of children, senior citizens and disabled abroad are considered fundamental rights and are given the highest honor. Unfortunately, this does not happen in our country.
The court has directed that a committee of experts should be set up on this issue, a meeting of the parties and a report should be prepared, which will be handed over to the DGCA to prepare the regulation, and the hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday.
