paving way for social inclusion

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02 | SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, MUMBAI OCTOBER 23, 2011 quote martial Services have been resumed as the few agitating drivers, have called off the strike. The entire fleet of 2,000 cabs will be back on roads. RAJESH PURI, CEO Meru Cabs, on the drivers calling off the strike metro ( ) Pankti Mehta [email protected] It’s hard enough being an able-bodied pedestrian in Mumbai, with pavements crumbling or altogether missing, paver blocks laid unevenly and jutting out unexpectedly, and hawkers, shanties and parked vehicles forming obstruc- tions at regular intervals. Now imagine trying to navigate these footpaths when you’re in a wheelchair or cannot see. Imagine trying to get on and off and on again as an arthritic sen- ior citizen. Imagine your worry as a parent of schoolgoing children walking to class every day. It’s traumatic, if not impossible, for those with special needs to walk on Mumbai’s footpaths, say experts. “All the problems faced by able-bod- ied people on our pavements naturally become magnified,” says Sam Taraporevala, associate professor of soci- ology and director of the Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), who is visually- impaired himself. “Accessibility is a basic requirement, and it shouldn’t difficult to implement slight changes in design and maintenance to make the end-to-end experience more comfortable.” Most pavements, for instance, do not have the gradual incline at either end to make access easier, especially for the physically challenged and visually impaired. “This is not only essential for the disadvantaged, but also for people with infants in strollers and for chil- dren,” says Sanjeeta Joshi, member of managing committee at Consumer Guidance Society of India. “Instead, old people with knee problems are forced to struggle on and off and on and off.” Elsewhere, a lack of routine mainte- nance leaves paver tiles loose and uneven. Padma Rao, a senior citizen who walks with the help of a stick, said, “It’s uneven, and my walking stick gets stuck between the loose tiles.” According to Vidyadhar Date, pedes- trian rights advocate and author of Traffic in the Era of Climate Change. Walking, Cycling, Public Transport Need Priority, Mumbai needs a cultural change towards greater inclusion via infrastructure. “European and American cities are very friendly to the disabled. Mumbai, like many other Indian cities, has yet to catch up. Cities should first be made child- friendly, and then everything else will fol- low. In New York, for example, you are given compensation if you trip on a pave- ment and injure yourself.” BMC officials declined to comment. “I understand that pavements have become a nuisance, but in the areas where the roads are maintained by the MMRDA, such as JP road in Andheri and the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, this is mainly due to the ongoing Metro work. Once the project is completed, we will address all the issues,” said Dilip Kawatkar, spokesperson for the MMRDA. “Post March-2012, when most of the civil work on these roads is expected to be complete, we will include slopes to make these pavements suit- able for those using wheelchairs and we will also ensure that we use the best quality material, as per the specifica- tions laid down by the PWD norms.” CHANGE NEEDED Most footpaths in the city are not easily accessible to the physically challenged, visually impaired, and senior citizens; to become a world-class metro, Mumbai needs to become more disabled- and child-friendly, say residents Paving way for inclusive society sunday special HT Correspondent [email protected] MUMBAI: A Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel misfired in a local train in the wee hours of Saturday while he was on duty. Kishan Haribhau Katkar, 46, who is attached with the Karjat GRP, was supposed to board a train to Thane, but instead board- ed one to Karjat. Between Sion and Kurla sta- tion, Katkar who was in the gen- eral compartment misfired from his 303 service rifle. He had not put the safety lock, said the Kurla railway police. The bullet got lodged in the rooftop of the train. Nobody was injured in the incident, but it did create panic amongst the com- muters, the police said. “Katkar was drunk at the time of the incident. His blood reports have clearly shown alco- hol content. He was holding his loaded service rifle in his hands and mistakenly pulled the trig- ger,” said Shivaji Dhumal, sen- ior police inspector of Kurla rail- way police station. The railway police said Katkar was deployed for his night patrolling assignment in the ladies compartment of the local train. However, Katkar went in to the general compartment of another train which was head- ing towards Karjat. Katkar has been booked for negligence and endangering life or personal safety of others. ‘Drunk’ GRP cop fires in local train Docs give baby with hole in diaphragm chance to live Sonal Shukla [email protected] MUMBAI: Chetana Malde, 31, held her newborn baby boy — Meet —in her lap and realised that she had taken the right deci- sion of not terminating her pregnancy. In the 19th week of her preg- nancy, a sonography revealed that Malde’s unborn baby was suffering from a congenital defect that had created a hole in the foetus’s diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscular par- tition that separates the tho- racic cavity (heart and lungs) from the abdominal cavity. “We consulted five special- ists who advised us to termi- nate the pregnancy saying that the chances of survival are almost nil,” said the home- maker. However, a group of special- ists attached to Grace Maternity Hospital in Kandivli reassured them that the baby had a good chance of survival. A three-mem- ber team from the hospital — Dr Sarita Bhagwat, a paediatric sur- geon, Dr Pooja Vazirani, a fetal medical expert and Dr Kartik Bhagat, a obstetrician — were instrumental in saving Meet. “The baby was suffering from congenital right-sided diaphragmatic hernia, where there was a hole in the baby’s diaphragm. The liver had pro- truded into the chest through this hole and was putting pres- sure on the lung and heart,” said Bhagwat. This would have affected lung development and the baby would have had difficulty in breathing after birth. One in 2,000 to 3,000 babies are born with this defect and generally doctors recom- mend termination of pregnancy. But doctors at Grace Maternity Hospital said it was possible to manage the condi- tion because of advances in the foetal medicine. “We found few subtle signs that predicted that the impact of the defect on the lungs could be dealt with soon after birth and the child could lead a healthy life,” said Vazirani. “We were monitoring the growth of the baby every four weeks.” On September 25, Malde had a normal delivery. After the delivery, the baby was operated where surgeons closed the defect by pushing the liver down and closing the hole with stitches. Meant to help, they are now impediments CHILDREN | RAKHI SHIGWAN (9) Pravin Shingwan, a construc- tion worker who lives in Breach Candy, says he cannot let his nine-year-old daughter Rakhi walk alone to the store down the road because the pavement has been completely encroached upon by hawkers, forcing pedestrians onto the busy street. The Shigwans are not a wealthy family, so Rakhi walks to school every day, with the children of domestic help from the plush buildings nearby. “There are fruit and veg- etable shops on the footpath, and the little space left is taken by people buying things from them,” says Rakhi. “Even when we walk to school, the older stu- dents have to hold our hands so that nobody gets hit by the traf- fic.” For Pravin and his wife, the state of the pavements is an end- less source of stress. “It would really help to have a wide footpath that was safe for children to walk or run on, without the stress of what might happen to them every day,” says Pravin. VISUALLY IMPAIRED | KETAN KOTHARI (43) Regional programme develop- ment advisor at SightSavers, Ketan Kothari which promotes inclusion for the blind, lives in Mahim and finds it very diffi- cult to navigate footpaths with his cane. “Firstly, they are often too high, and if your cane misses the change in depth, you can fall and injure yourself quite terribly,” he says. “It would help to have a slope at either end instead. More importantly, though, there are all sorts of obstacles in your line of walking — protruding objects such as trees planted right in the middle, or ditches from missing paver blocks. The cane cannot always detect these, leaving blind people to risk bumps and injuries as they walk.” The cane also cannot always tell Kothari when tiles have come loose, so he and other visually impaired people are prone to trip. “Dumpsters and hawkers are also a threat.” While Kothari hasn’t been seriously injured by footpaths, he is always afraid that he will be. “The chances are high,” he says. PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED | MAYANK ROKADIA (48) Even with a fairly advanced motorised wheelchair, comput- er hardware professional Mayank Rokadia, 48, cannot get around by himself in Mumbai. “It’s frustrating, because a sim- ple change in the design of the footpaths would enable people like me to be self-reliant, for the most part,” he says. “Wheelchairs and prams, are not built to climb up steps. I need someone to lift the wheelchair onto the pavement every time, which defeats the purpose of hav- ing a machine that can help me achieve mobility outdoors.” Rokadia wishes the pave- ments had slight inclines. “At least the newer ones should have that feature,” he says. He also complains that manoeuvring himself on uneven ground, with ditches and miss- ing paver blocks, is very difficult. “The wheels get stuck in uneven areas where the paver tiles have come loose. There are also several roads with pave- ment on only one side of the road, so if I cross, I’m left maneouvering down the street and that is quite scary.” SENIOR CITIZENS | HK RAO (76) HK Rao, a 76-year-old Borivli resident and consultant at the Indian Merchant’s Chamber, often needs to walk the 100 metres from his building to the bus stop to commute, but the short walk always leaves him with aching knees. “The steps here are unnec- essarily high,” he says. “And since it’s not one continuous footpath, you have to keep climbing up and down, which not only slows down and tires someone of my age, but is very difficult on the knees.” The footpath is uneven too, which is worrying because you have to watch every step so that you don’t trip and fall, says Rao. In just 100 metres, the sen- ior citizen also has to wend his way past garbage bins, hawk- ers and parked cars strewn across the middle of the pave- ment. “It takes a lot of effort to navigate these obstacles and sometimes it is just easier to walk on the main road,” he says. “Of course, I can’t move fast and I sometimes can’t hear proper- ly, so it is very frightening being at the mercy of the traffic.” The baby was suffering from congenital right-sided diaphragmatic hernia, where there was a hole in the baby’s diaphragm The liver had protruded into the chest through this hole and was putting pres- sure on the lung and heart This would have affected lung development and the baby would have had difficul- ty in breathing after birth. One in 2,000 to 3,000 babies are born with this defect and generally doctors recommend termination of pregnancy The surgeons had to close the defect by pushing the liver down and closing the hole with stitches. THE CASE Chetana Malde with her baby. MAHENDRA PARIKH/ HT Kandivli Mayank Rokadia wants footpaths to have inclines to make it easier for wheelchairs. Borivli Senior citizens HK and Padma Rao face problems while walking on uneven footpaths. PRASAD GORI/ HT MAHIM Ketan Kothari has diffi- culty navigating the footpath. HEMANT PADALKAR/ HT BREACH CANDY Parents are afraid to let their children walk on footpaths. on twitter Visit our Facebook page, ‘Fight For Our Footpaths’, post a comment, share your experiences, and be part of the HT campaign. Tweet your thoughts using the hashtag #fight4footpaths JOIN HT’S CAMPAIGN TO RECLAIM THE CITY’S FOOTPATHS What should the BMC do to make the city more pedestrian-friendly? Email your thoughts at [email protected] facebook campaign ht CAMPAIGN fight for our FOOTPATHS OCTOBER 8 OCTOBER 12 OCTOBER 17

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Ganguly’s knock. However, once theskipper was dismissed, the lower ordercrumbled and failed to take the hostspast the line. Andrew Flintoff, who wasthe star with the ball, burst into wildcelebrations, running around theWankhede bare-chested while swirlinghis shirt in the air.

INDIA vsAUSTRALIA17 OCTOBER 2007Australia 193 all out in 41.3 ovs (RPonting 57; M Kartik 6/27) lost to India195/8 in 46 ovs (R Uthappa 47, Z Khan31; M Johnson 3/46)

AUSTRALIA HAD SEALED the seriesgoing into the final tie. But with Indiabeing led by MS Dhoni in an ODI seriesfor the first time, it was by no means adead rubber. And Murali Kartik, who

had been called in from the televisionstudio midway through the series, madesure he made it a memorable match byrocking Australia at his happy-huntingground with six wickets. India were

expected to romp home after Kartik’scharisma. But there was more drama instore as India were reduced to 64 for 6before Robin Uthappa combined withthe tail to help India cross the line.

INDIA vsSRI LANKA2 APRIL 2011Sri Lanka 274 for 6 in 50 ovs (MJayawardene 103*, K Sangakkara 48; ZKhan 2/60, Y Singh 2/49) lost to India277 for 4 in 48.2 ovs (G Gambhir 97,MS Dhoni 91*; L Malinga 2/42)

Playing at the re-constructed stadium,India got past Sri Lanka and regainedthe World Cup after 28 years. AfterJayawardene’s century set the tone forthe day to help Sri Lanka set the hosts astiff target of 275, India lost the openersearly to an excellent spell by Malinga.

That’ when Dhoni promoted himselfahead of the in-form Yuvraj and theskipper and Gambhir put together a cru-cial partnership to make sure India gottheir hands on the prized possession.

Sourav Ganguly

India take on England in an ODI atthe Wankhede stadium almost 10years since the time the two teamsmet in this format at the same venue.It’s amazing to think that with so

much cricket happening in modern erait has taken 10 years for England andIndia to meet at the newly builtWankhede stadium.

The difference after 10 years is, thatthe series hung in balance at 3-2 thenand India here have smashed theEngland team hands down 3-0 in thethree ODI’s played so far. I am never afan of comparing teams or players ofdifferent eras but that England teamhad a bit more experience than the cur-rent lot.

That series was very close to theWorld Cup in South Africa in2003, so England had decidedon their squad for the World Cupand now England are looking to

rebuild the side after a not toosuccessful campaign in the world

cup in India. One can say the same thingwith the then and the current Indianteams. Indian cricket has also proceed-ed a long way since then and other thanthe drubbing in England this summerthey have had a pretty good record bothhome and away in the last 10 years.

It was a game which India should havewon in 2002. We lost the last four wick-ets for nothing and then had the famousFlintoff incident at the Wankhede. It was

a lovely sight for sport, whichshowed the passion of thatman and how much he feltfor English cricket and also

how much the series meantfor them.

Though we didn’t win it, India fromthere on had a tremendous success rateagainst England in both forms of thegame for a long period of time.

India will play a very low in confidenceEnglish team on Sunday at theWankhede stadium and the Englishmenhave to do an amazingly improved jobon the field to get past India. They playedwell at Mohali but what is drasticallymissing in this team, especially in theODI format, is the intensity and theknock-out punch in crunch situations.It was pretty apparent in Mohali theother night when Kieswetter kicked the

stump from a throwfrom third man whenJadeja was not even inthe frame and also thenumber of full tossestheir bowlers bowledin the last three overs,just goes to show thatthey panicked underpressure.

The dew could alsobe a factor for them inthe evening while bowl-ing and they will facethe similar situation inMumbai and Kolkata.But do they have the faith and belief inthem to chase three hundred in theevening under lights? Because, if AlastairCook puts India in their bowlers are notgood enough to stop India’s rampage inthese conditions.

What was heartening to see was thebatting effort of the English team, whichallowed them to get to 298. They couldhave got a few runs more than what theygot had Trot accelerated a bit more atthe end. Also what England desperate-ly need is the class of Ian Bell, probablygetting Bairstow to keep wickets.

It’s going to be a different sort of pitchat the Wankhede, with a bit more carry,than the other three already played onand the EnglIsh bowlers will try and uti-

lize that advantage, asthey need to pick wick-ets to stop this Indianbatting or they don’thave even a whimperof a chance.

India will be withoutUmesh Yadav who gotinjured the other night.He bowled well in thethree games, which isgood sight for Indiancricket especially foroverseas conditions, asthey will tour Australia.He swung the ball at a

decent pace and hope he can carry onthe same in the future.

With Yadav injured, Varun Aaron,another young quick, will get the oppor-tunity to play and I will be keen to havea look at him, as he can also be a poten-tial for the future of Indian cricket. Indiais in a position of huge strength andEngland will have to play out of theirskin to get past their opponent in thenext three games. But what Englanddesperately need is a big mental boostfrom the senior members in the teamor else it could be a long three gamesand a bigger drubbing.

Freddie’s act showed hispassion for the game

PERS!

■ The seeds of Sourav Ganguly’s jersey-waving act at Lord’s in 2002 were sown in Andrew Flintoff’s (right) similar act at Wankhede Stadium. FILE PHOTO

■ Murali Kartik stole the show againstAustralia in 2007. SANTOSH HARHARE/ HT

■ India’s mission to regain World Cup wasfulfilled in April. SANTOSH HARHARE/ HT

DRESSINGDHOOM

WHEN HANSIE LOST HIS COOLBecause of stone pelting duringIndia’s ODI against South Africain 1996 (Hansie) Cronje wasreally upset. He went to thepavilion and lifted Avi Sule, thelocal manager, with one handand threw him out of the room. Iwas the vice-president of theMumbai Cricket Associationthen. When I was informed ofthe same, I went to the pavilionwhere Cronje and Jonty(Rhodes) were standing in frontnot too happy with what washappening. I went on to theground after that and requestedthe crowd to calm down

A J I T WA D E K A R ,Fo r m e r I n d i a c a p t a i n a n d m a n a ge r

SANDY PATIL, THEFIRST DEEJAYDuring a Ranji Trophy gameagainst Rajasthan, Sandeep(Patil) brought a music systemalong with him. That was thefirst time music was played inthe Mumbai dressing room andit hasn’t stopped ever since.Sandeep thought he wouldbring the dressing room alivesince those in the dressingroom had to wait for hours fortheir turn to bat, courtesy an eraof great Mumbai batsmanship.Parthasarathy Sharma’s son,who was a chubby lad, hadcome to watch the match. Iremember Sandeep made himdance in the dressing room during the match

C H A N D R A K A N T PA N D I T ,Fo r m e r M u m b a i c a p t a i n a n d c o ac h

HOW TO BEAT ANXIETYOF WORLD CUP FINALDuring the tense run chase,everyone was forced to sit intheir respective seats. AshishNehra ensured that he kept awatch on everybody. Even thetoilet break was restricted during stoppage of play. I wassandwiched between MunafPatel and Zaheer Khan and theywouldn’t allow me to get up tillDhoni hit the winning run. Theoutpouring of emotions whenthey won was unbelievable.Chawla was like a child. He was not leaving the Cup

N I T I N D A L A L ,I n d i a ’ s l o c a l l i a s i o n i n g o f f i c e r

The Wankhede changingrooms have witnessed its share of laughters and shockers. Here are some...

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IDENTIFY THE PLAYER IN THE PICTURE

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS: Q1: B) ALEEM DAR; Q2: C) FERNANDO ALONSO; Q3: A) SOCHI

The winners of last week’s quiz are: MAYUR VAKIL and VIJAY RANDHAYE

New Zealandrapt ahead ofrugby finalOBSESSED NATION Build-up to the All Blacksversus France World Cup summit clash eclipsesall else, including the general election campaign

Toby Manhire■ [email protected]

Ageneral election is to be held in NewZealand in just over a month, butyou would be forgiven for not notic-

ing. Attentions have been devoted to aweightier, more anxious date in the diary,the final of the Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand is hosting the competi-tion for the first time since 1987. Then, asnow, the final is at Eden Park in Auckland;and then, as now, it is between the AllBlacks and France. New Zealand won theWebb Ellis cup in 1987, but they have notdone since.

The organisers of these finals prom-ised a “stadium of four million” and so farhave been half right.

Almost 50% of New Zealand’s popula-tion of 4.4 million tuned in during lastweekend’s semi-final against Australia, arecord figure.

Passion for the competition is not uni-versal, but the television ratings reflectthe game’s popularity.

On Sunday – at 9am UK time – the gamewill be screened on five domestic chan-nels and the number of viewers is boundto be higher still. It is a rare event whenmore than half a nation tunes in to watchthe same thing.

Christchurch Football Club will be oneof scores of rugby clubs across the coun-try showing it. The mood at New Zealand’soldest club is likely to be cautiously opti-mistic, according to club captain TobyGiles. “Of course there will be a few nerves,definitely,” he says. “I think most peopleare confident, but you never know withthe French.”

The club is also home to Richie McCaw,the All Black captain whose foot injury –which reportedly leaves his toe bone push-ing at his skin like a tent pole after everygame – has become a national obsession.

“We taught him everything he knows,”Giles says. “I’m sure the foot is annoyinghim, but you work to manage it. I’m surehe’s going to have a pretty long break after-wards.”

In the week leading up to the final, twosteely mantras have become as familiarin New Zealand as the silver fern flags fly-ing from cars.

Players, coaches, pundits and the pub-lic all repeat the words: “Must not be com-placent”, usually followed by “Never under-estimate the French”.

France progressed to the final as if byaccident, having twice lost in the pool

phase (against New Zealand and Tonga)before overcoming a ramshackle Englandand edging out a Wales controversiallyreduced to 14 players.

New Zealand, by contrast, compre-hensively overcame Australia in theirsemi-final, a game many hubristicallydubbed the real final.

A French victory would be an upset ofhuge proportions, but any speculationabout an All Black cakewalk has swiftlymet with a stern rebuke. As one newspa-per editorial warned: “Empires and AllBlacks campaigns can be derailed by arro-gance and parochial naivety.”

More to the point, All Black World Cupambitions have an unhappy knack of beingfoiled by the French. This most capriciousof international rugby teams has twicecome from behind to upset the All Blacks,in 1999 and 2007.

This time around, All Black prospectsare buoyed by the rise of Piri Weepu, aman who failed to make the 2007 squadafter rubbing All Black manager GrahamHenry up the wrong way, and who brokehis leg playing a provincial game forWellington almost exactly a year ago.

In Dan Carter’s absence the mercurialscrum-half has assumed goalkickingduties, the tactical mantle and a Messiah-like status.

Since an exceptional performance inthe quarter-final two weeks ago, hardly anews bulletin or newspaper front pagehas gone by without an exaltation ofWeepu, while a thousand online one-lin-ers have bloomed celebrating “the Weepueffect” — “Superman wears Piri Weepupyjamas”, “Piri Weepu can touch MCHammer”, that sort of thing.

The final on Sunday will be difficult toavoid, even in some churches.

“We’re encouraging everybody comingto the service to wear black, and just tohang around and be as mad about rugbyas the rest of New Zealand,” Daniel Tiati,pastor at one Wellington church, toldRadio New Zealand, explaining that a bigscreen would be assembled for parish-ioners to watch the game.

“There’s no shelter in any part of ourcountry from rugby, certainly not inchurch.”

TV TIMINGSNew Zealand vs FranceLive on Neo Sports: 1.30 pm

■ The traditional Haka dance of the All Blacks has brought together the entire nation and the Kiwifans will settle for nothing less than the World Cup crown. PHIL WALTER / REUTERS

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quotemartialServices have been resumed as the few agitating drivers, have called offthe strike. The entire fleet of 2,000 cabs will be back on roads. RAJESH PURI, CEO Meru Cabs, on the drivers calling off the strikemetro ( )

Pankti Mehta■ [email protected]

It’s hard enough being an able-bodiedpedestrian in Mumbai, with pavementscrumbling or altogether missing, paverblocks laid unevenly and jutting outunexpectedly, and hawkers, shantiesand parked vehicles forming obstruc-tions at regular intervals.

Now imagine trying to navigate thesefootpaths when you’re in a wheelchairor cannot see. Imagine trying to get onand off and on again as an arthritic sen-ior citizen. Imagine your worry as aparent of schoolgoing children walkingto class every day.

It’s traumatic, if not impossible, forthose with special needs to walk onMumbai’s footpaths, say experts.

“All the problems faced by able-bod-ied people on our pavements naturallybecome magnified,” says SamTaraporevala, associate professor of soci-ology and director of the Xavier’sResource Centre for the VisuallyChallenged (XRCVC), who is visually-impaired himself. “Accessibility is a basicrequirement, and it shouldn’t difficult toimplement slight changes in design andmaintenance to make the end-to-endexperience more comfortable.”

Most pavements, for instance, do nothave the gradual incline at either endto make access easier, especially for thephysically challenged and visuallyimpaired. “This is not only essential forthe disadvantaged, but also for peoplewith infants in strollers and for chil-dren,” says Sanjeeta Joshi, member ofmanaging committee at ConsumerGuidance Society of India. “Instead, oldpeople with knee problems are forcedto struggle on and off and on and off.”

Elsewhere, a lack of routine mainte-nance leaves paver tiles loose anduneven. Padma Rao, a senior citizenwho walks with the help of a stick, said,“It’s uneven, and my walking stick getsstuck between the loose tiles.”

According to Vidyadhar Date, pedes-trian rights advocate and author of Trafficin the Era of Climate Change. Walking,Cycling, Public Transport Need Priority,Mumbai needs a cultural change towardsgreater inclusion via infrastructure.

“European and American cities arevery friendly to the disabled. Mumbai,like many other Indian cities, has yet tocatch up. Cities should first be made child-friendly, and then everything else will fol-low. In New York, for example, you aregiven compensation if you trip on a pave-ment and injure yourself.”

BMC officials declined to comment.“I understand that pavements have

become a nuisance, but in the areaswhere the roads are maintained by theMMRDA, such as JP road in Andheriand the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road,this is mainly due to the ongoing Metrowork. Once the project is completed,we will address all the issues,” said DilipKawatkar, spokesperson for theMMRDA. “Post March-2012, when mostof the civil work on these roads isexpected to be complete, we will includeslopes to make these pavements suit-able for those using wheelchairs andwe will also ensure that we use the bestquality material, as per the specifica-tions laid down by the PWD norms.”

CHANGE NEEDED Most footpaths in the city are not easily accessible to the physically challenged, visually impaired, andsenior citizens; to become a world-class metro, Mumbai needs to become more disabled- and child-friendly, say residents

Paving way for inclusive societysundayspecial

HT Correspondent ■ [email protected]

MUMBAI: A Government RailwayPolice (GRP) personnel misfiredin a local train in the wee hoursof Saturday while he was onduty.

Kishan Haribhau Katkar, 46,who is attached with the KarjatGRP, was supposed to board atrain to Thane, but instead board-ed one to Karjat.

Between Sion and Kurla sta-tion, Katkar who was in the gen-eral compartment misfired fromhis 303 service rifle. He had notput the safety lock, said theKurla railway police.

The bullet got lodged in therooftop of the train. Nobody wasinjured in the incident, but it did

create panic amongst the com-muters, the police said.

“Katkar was drunk at thetime of the incident. His bloodreports have clearly shown alco-hol content. He was holding hisloaded service rifle in his handsand mistakenly pulled the trig-ger,” said Shivaji Dhumal, sen-ior police inspector of Kurla rail-way police station.

The railway police said Katkarwas deployed for his nightpatrolling assignment in the ladiescompartment of the local train.

However, Katkar went in tothe general compartment ofanother train which was head-ing towards Karjat.

Katkar has been booked fornegligence and endangering lifeor personal safety of others.

‘Drunk’ GRP copfires in local train

Docs give baby with hole in diaphragm chance to liveSonal Shukla ■ [email protected]

MUMBAI: Chetana Malde, 31, heldher newborn baby boy — Meet—in her lap and realised thatshe had taken the right deci-sion of not terminating herpregnancy.

In the 19th week of her preg-nancy, a sonography revealedthat Malde’s unborn baby wassuffering from a congenitaldefect that had created a holein the foetus’s diaphragm. Thediaphragm is a muscular par-tition that separates the tho-racic cavity (heart and lungs)from the abdominal cavity.

“We consulted five special-ists who advised us to termi-nate the pregnancy saying thatthe chances of survival arealmost nil,” said the home-

maker. However, a group of special-

ists attached to Grace MaternityHospital in Kandivli reassuredthem that the baby had a goodchance of survival. A three-mem-ber team from the hospital — DrSarita Bhagwat, a paediatric sur-geon, Dr Pooja Vazirani, a fetalmedical expert and Dr KartikBhagat, a obstetrician — wereinstrumental in saving Meet.

“The baby was sufferingfrom congenital right-sideddiaphragmatic hernia, wherethere was a hole in the baby’sdiaphragm. The liver had pro-truded into the chest throughthis hole and was putting pres-sure on the lung and heart,”said Bhagwat.

This would have affected lungdevelopment and the baby wouldhave had difficulty in breathing

after birth. One in 2,000 to 3,000babies are born with this defectand generally doctors recom-mend termination of pregnancy.

But doctors at GraceMaternity Hospital said it waspossible to manage the condi-tion because of advances in thefoetal medicine.

“We found few subtle signsthat predicted that the impactof the defect on the lungs couldbe dealt with soon after birthand the child could lead ahealthy life,” said Vazirani. “Wewere monitoring the growth ofthe baby every four weeks.”

On September 25, Maldehad a normal delivery. Afterthe delivery, the baby wasoperated where surgeonsclosed the defect by pushingthe liver down and closing thehole with stitches.

Meant to help, they are now impediments

CHILDREN | RAKHI SHIGWAN (9)Pravin Shingwan, a construc-tion worker who lives in BreachCandy, says he cannot let hisnine-year-old daughter Rakhiwalk alone to the store downthe road because the pavementhas been completelyencroached upon by hawkers,forcing pedestrians onto thebusy street.

The Shigwans are not a

wealthy family, so Rakhi walksto school every day, with thechildren of domestic help fromthe plush buildings nearby.

“There are fruit and veg-etable shops on the footpath,and the little space left is takenby people buying things fromthem,” says Rakhi. “Even whenwe walk to school, the older stu-dents have to hold our hands so

that nobody gets hit by the traf-fic.”

For Pravin and his wife, thestate of the pavements is an end-less source of stress.

“It would really help to havea wide footpath that was safefor children to walk or run on,without the stress of what mighthappen to them every day,” saysPravin.

VISUALLY IMPAIRED | KETAN KOTHARI (43)Regional programme develop-ment advisor at SightSavers,Ketan Kothari which promotesinclusion for the blind, lives inMahim and finds it very diffi-cult to navigate footpaths withhis cane.

“Firstly, they are often toohigh, and if your cane misses thechange in depth, you can fall andinjure yourself quite terribly,”

he says. “It would help to havea slope at either end instead.More importantly, though, thereare all sorts of obstacles in yourline of walking — protrudingobjects such as trees plantedright in the middle, or ditchesfrom missing paver blocks. Thecane cannot always detect these,leaving blind people to riskbumps and injuries as they

walk.” The cane also cannotalways tell Kothari when tileshave come loose, so he and othervisually impaired people areprone to trip. “Dumpsters andhawkers are also a threat.”

While Kothari hasn’t beenseriously injured by footpaths,he is always afraid that he willbe. “The chances are high,” hesays.

PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED | MAYANK ROKADIA (48)

Even with a fairly advancedmotorised wheelchair, comput-er hardware professionalMayank Rokadia, 48, cannot getaround by himself in Mumbai.

“It’s frustrating, because a sim-ple change in the design of thefootpaths would enable peoplelike me to be self-reliant, for themost part,” he says.“Wheelchairs and prams, are not

built to climb up steps. I needsomeone to lift the wheelchaironto the pavement every time,which defeats the purpose of hav-ing a machine that can help meachieve mobility outdoors.”

Rokadia wishes the pave-ments had slight inclines. “Atleast the newer ones shouldhave that feature,” he says.

He also complains that

manoeuvring himself on unevenground, with ditches and miss-ing paver blocks, is very difficult.

“The wheels get stuck inuneven areas where the pavertiles have come loose. There arealso several roads with pave-ment on only one side of theroad, so if I cross, I’m leftmaneouvering down the streetand that is quite scary.”

SENIOR CITIZENS | HK RAO (76)

HK Rao, a 76-year-old Borivliresident and consultant at theIndian Merchant’s Chamber,often needs to walk the 100metres from his building to thebus stop to commute, but theshort walk always leaves himwith aching knees.

“The steps here are unnec-essarily high,” he says. “Andsince it’s not one continuous

footpath, you have to keepclimbing up and down, whichnot only slows down and tiressomeone of my age, but is verydifficult on the knees.”

The footpath is uneven too,which is worrying because youhave to watch every step so thatyou don’t trip and fall, says Rao.

In just 100 metres, the sen-ior citizen also has to wend his

way past garbage bins, hawk-ers and parked cars strewnacross the middle of the pave-ment. “It takes a lot of effort tonavigate these obstacles andsometimes it is just easier towalk on the main road,” he says.“Of course, I can’t move fast andI sometimes can’t hear proper-ly, so it is very frightening beingat the mercy of the traffic.”

■ The baby was sufferingfrom congenital right-sideddiaphragmatic hernia, wherethere was a hole in thebaby’s diaphragm ■ The liver had protrudedinto the chest through thishole and was putting pres-sure on the lung and heart■ This would have affectedlung development and thebaby would have had difficul-ty in breathing after birth. ■ One in 2,000 to 3,000 babiesare born with this defect andgenerally doctors recommendtermination of pregnancy■ The surgeons had to closethe defect by pushing theliver down and closing thehole with stitches.

THE CASE

■ Chetana Malde with her baby. MAHENDRA PARIKH/ HT

KandivliMayank Rokadia

wants footpaths to haveinclines to make it easier

for wheelchairs.

BorivliSenior citizens HK and

Padma Rao face problemswhile walking on

uneven footpaths.PRASAD GORI/ HT

MAHIMKetan Kothari has diffi-

culty navigating thefootpath.

HEMANT PADALKAR/ HT

BREACHCANDY

Parents are afraid to lettheir children walk on

footpaths.

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