This will comprise providing of disabled-friendly toilets, ramps, braille script etchings on lifts and handrailings, he said.
At the fifth annual function of the National Federation of the Blind, Karnataka, Suryawanshi said that the Public Works Department(PWD) has prepared the action plan in this regard. The plan is in response to a recent High Court directive seeking all public buildings to be made disabled-friendly.
The Disability department held discussions with the Secretary of the PWD and Chief Engineers on Tuesday morning. The plan will be implemented by March next year, he added.
Minister of Women and Child Development P M Narendra Swamy called upon all libraries in the State to stock books in braille to facilitate reading among the visually impaired. Elaborating on the contributions made by the State government towards the welfare of the disabled the minister said that there was good news in store for the disabled in the forthcoming State budget.
Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj highlighted that benefits aimed at the welfare of the disabled reached only 5% of the beneficiaries. The disabled in the rural areas are the most neglected in terms of availing welfare schemes. Thus, it is imperative to develop a strategy to ensure that the benefits reached the intended, he urged.
Chief patron
President of State branch of National Federation of the Blind Gautam Prakash Agarwal said the Governor has agreed to become the chief patron of the branch and called the move historic. On the problems faced by the visually impaired he lamented that four residential schools for the blind in the State was facing shortage of teachers. For nearly a decade no scholarships have been awarded for the blind, he alleged.
The Governor felicitated many individuals for their contribution towards the cause of the visually impaired. They included President of National Association for the Blind, Karnataka, Saroja Ramachandran, President of Sri Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind
T V Srinivas, Managing Trustee of Enable India Shanti Raghavan, Principal of Maheshwari School for Blind Vaijayanti M Chougale and Sri Sharadha Devi Andhara Vikas Kendra’s H V Subramani.
Felicitation
Eleven men with eye sight who had married visually impaired women were felicitated at another function earlier. Visually impaired students from across the State who had excelled in academics were awarded cash prizes.
DH News Service
A tale of crushed hopes
The hopes of a visually impaired boy has been snipped in the bud as he could not get hostel facility to pursue his education.
Akash Balasaheb Nimbalkar, a visually impaired student from Nipani in Belgaum, wanted to pursue college studies after performing exceedingly well in 2009 SSLC exams. A former student of Maheswari School for the Blind, Belgaum Akash was felicitated by the National Federation of the Blind, Karnataka, on Tuesday for scoring 86.8% in the 2009 SSLC exams. He had secured 118 out of 125 marks in Kannada.
Akash had joined an Arts College in Wadgoan and opted for Kannada medium. However, he could not get hostel accomodation. His request for permission to stay in hostel meant for SC/ST students was turned down.
“The hostel was only for SC/ST students and I did not fall under the section. I commuted 80 kms daily from my house in Nipani to my college for a month. However, I could not keep up with that and had to give up my studies,” he recalled. This promising student who has lost a year due to non-availability of hostel facilities is determined to pursue his studies and aspires to become a college lecturer.
Among those felicitated was also MP Shalini from Mysore, a former student of Mallamaa Marimallappa Women’s Arts and Science College. She has the distinction of winning two gold medals in history at the graduate level.
“I am doing my MA in Political Science now and aspire to become an IAS officer,” said Shalini.