GU fails to be disabled-friendly

Ahmedabad Mirror: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, 03 December 2014.

Gujarat University, one of the largest universities in the state, caters to students from all across the state. Though the university boasts of excellent infrastructural facilities, it has ignored one section of its students - the physically disabled. For a physically challenged person, it is no less than an ordeal to access certain departments of the university. A reply to an RTI petition revealed that of the 25 departments and buildings in GU, only 11 have ramps that make buildings accessible to the disabled. Reply to the RTI petition filed by Sursinh Solanki, an activist, in 2013 revealed that even the recently started departments at GU don't have disabledfriendly infrastructure.

On the eve of International Day of Persons with Disability, Mirror visited various buildings inside GU campus, accompanied by two physically challenged students of Blind People's Association (BPA) Sonal Panchal and Bharti Sundhiya. Mirror found, that even a year after replying to the RTI petition, nothing has changed at GU. There have been no concrete efforts made to make the campus disabledfriendly. AM visited GU headquarters, KS School of Management, Department of Climate Change, and Department of Physics.

Of these, only Department of Physics had ramps which made it easy for a person on wheelchair to gain access to the building. Meanwhile, the nearby Centre of Defence and Professional Studies has a ramp constructed but it has not been made accessible to anyone. "It is important to make buildings and other infrastructure that are disabled- friendly. Not having that is equal to denying the physically challenged their rights. If I have to visit GU for some reason, I would be scared because accessing the ground floor would seem like a daunting task," Solanki said.

Sonal and Bharti echo Solanki's sentiments. A wheelchair-bound Sonal said, "Lack of infrastructure at the university makes us feel helpless. I cannot move around the campus without help. I am a bright student. But I still have to depend on someone to get my work done. It seems unfair." Vice Chancellor MN Patel however said that the varsity has initiated process to make the campus disabledfriendly. "We have awarded contracts to make the campus disabled-friendly. All the departments and buildings at GU campus will have ramps before December 31 this year so that ground floor of buildings is accessible to physically challenged students," he said.