Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna KSR-city (Majestic) railway station became the second blind-friendly railway station in the country, after Mysuru, with the inauguration of the Braille maps and platform indicators by the divisional railway manager on Tuesday.
Visually impaired persons can now walk into the main concourse of the railway station, where they can get to know the layout before entering the station.
As many as 600 Braille platform indicators are attached to the railings of the subways as well as the foot overbridges in all platforms. The information in the Braille map and indicators comes in Kannada and English.
Adil Sheikh, member of NGO Anuprayas, that played a crucial role in making the KSR station blind-friendly, said the facility would be of great help to the visually impaired.
“This is a huge step forward for people like me. I have always felt that Railways, in which many blind people travel, should be more accessible to us,” he said.
Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Sanjiv Agarwal inaugurated the facility along with realtor Tathagata Chatterjee who funded the project under corporate social responsibility scheme.
“The facility, which has cost Rs 7 lakh, will be extended to the new foot overbridge and two more tactile maps will be installed at the new entry point (platform number 6),” he said. Pancham Cajla, founder of Anuprayas, said he came up with the idea while working for Infosys in Mysuru. “The success in Mysuru gave me confidence that we can extend it to Bengaluru,” he said.
G K Mahantesh, president of Cricket Association for the Blind, said the facility reduced a huge burden on the visually impaired people. “Presently, the blind depend on others and sometimes miss the trains because of the time taken in reaching the platform. It is a huge relief for them,” he added.
At Yeshwantpur
Senior divisional commercial manager Sridhar Murthy said similar facility will come up in Yeshwantpur station.
DH News Service
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