ECI and GHMC to launch app for persons with disabilities
Telangana | Written by : Suryaa Desk
Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat will release Voter Accessibility App for the persons with disabilities Abled (VAADA- a promise) on Tuesday.VAADA is a joint initiative of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Election Commission of India (ECI).Among the key directives of the ECI is to make the elections in Telangana accessible and inclusive. With this objective in mind, GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore has developed VAADA. The app has been developed under the personal supervision of Additional Commissioner D Harichandana A team of developers and programmers worked for over a week for the app.
VAADA makes the voting process for persons with disabilities convenient and increases the accessibility factor. Built as an app VAADA has a text, voice as well as GIS (Geographic Information System) interface. The voice interface has been specially included keeping in mind the challenges of persons with disabilities. The GIS interface enables locating the user.
Downloadable from the Google play store, VAADA, opens with a screen requiring details of the person, mobile number, type of disability and assistance required. These details can be filled in text form.The app is also voice enabled and this feature will allow the user to record his / her details without the need for typing. Once these details are entered the location details are also captured using coordinates. Georeferenced GIS maps, generated by GHMC-GIS cell, showing all the 3000 plus polling booth locations in the 15 constituencies have been used and linked to the app.
The locations of persons with disabilities abled will be geotagged to the respective polling stations to facilitate providing of logistic services of transport, attendant with preference of time. The app will be a boon to the over 20,000 persons with disabilities who can now take part in the electoral process easily.