New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) Ensuring participation of persons with disabilities in the decision-making processes and having a disabled-friendly public transport system were among the suggestions that emerged during the first meeting of the re-constituted core group of the NHRC on Wednesday, officials said.

Chairing the meeting of the Core Group on Disabilities, NHRC member D M Mulay "expressed concern" over the pace at which efforts are being made to ensure public facilities are available to 'Divyangjan' at par with any other citizen.

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It is not just the matter of accessibility, but how to use the full potential of persons with disabilities should be the focus of the discourse, Mulay was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NHRC.

There should be a result-orientated approach and not just raising of problems, he said.

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The NHRC Core Group members and experts working in the field of issues related to disabilities should travel to various parts of the country to look out for the best practices so as to evolve a common framework for implementation throughout the country for the betterment of facilities and infrastructure for persons with disabilities, Mulay added.

He said the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 provides guiding principles to envisage a large vision to act and implement disabled-friendly environment to enable every person with disability to realise his or her full potential as a citizen of India and to give them justice, dignity and equality.

Some of the suggestions that emerged from the meeting included ensuring participation of persons with disabilities in the decision-making processes, ensuring disabled-friendly public transport, and including community-based rehabilitation services.

Other suggestions included "ensuring access to justice by video call and text and a dedicated mobile toll-free number, which can be accessed in police stations or hospitals alike for diverse communication needs of persons with disabilities", the statement said.

NHRC member justice M M Kumar said use of artificial intelligence needs to be promoted to "ensure accessibility of all the services to the 'divyangjan' at par with others".

Earlier, NHRC joint secretary Harish Chandra Chaudhary said the Commission decided to re-constitute its Core Group on Disabilities exclusively in order to focus specifically on the issues of persons with disability.

He said the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 has a number of provisions to create disabled-friendly facilities, which needed to be implemented on the ground.

Mritunjay Jha, Deputy Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities said Centre and states, in line with the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, have started working towards making cities and human settlements disabled-friendly.

The participants also included other senior officers of the NHRC, representatives from the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities, ministry of social justice and empowerment, and National Association for Blind and Disability Rights Alliance.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)