Quota for divyangs in 3ACs coaches

New Delhi: Indian Railways has decided to reserve a certain number of lower berth seats for differently-abled paasengers in 3AC of all mail and express trains.

As of now, there is a provision for lower berth quota for the differently-abled in the sleeper class but none in 3AC.

Necessary sofware was being developed for fixing a quota for “divyangs” in trains in 3ACs in trains, a senior railways ministry official said.

The move to fix a quota in 3AC comes close on the heels of an incident in which a wheelchair-bound athlete faced difficulty in securing a lower berth.

Para-athlete Subarna Raj could not get a lower berth in the Nagpur- Nizamuddin Garib Rath Express and had to sleep on the floor of the train.

Following this, an inquiry was ordered by railway minister Suresh Prabhu who had instructed that corrective measures be taken so that such incidents did not happen again. The 3AC quota facility for “divyangs” will be announced by Railways this week.

Besides, all stations are being made accessible for differently-abled passengers.

While waiting halls have divyang-friendly toilets, many coaches have signage system in braille for visually-challenged passengers.

The Railways had, earlier, reserved two sleeper class berths in each coach in all trains running on non-suburban sections for differently-abled persons travelling on concessional tickets. The person accompanying the differently-abled person as an escort is also allotted a berth under this quota.