News

Volume 9 Issue 9 - July 15, 2012

D.U. and J.N.U. get M.S.J.E. funds to make their campus disabled-friendly

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Delhi University (D.U.) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (J.N.U.) have received Rs. 11.6 crore from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (M.S.J.E.) for “developing disabled-friendly infrastructure”. Although, the funds were given 3 months back, work has yet to start.

Ramps, toilets for wheelchair-users, Braille signages, voice signals in elevators and tactile tiles are some of the facilities to be built or made available with the money allocated to the Universities. However, this development will be seen with much skepticism as in the past both these Universities have made tall claims about becoming ‘accessible’.

More often than not, unqualified people who claim to be ‘accessibility experts’ are given the task. National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (N.C.P.E.D.P.) and AccessAbility have conducted access audits of D.U. in the past where it was found that signages, gradients of ramps, etc. were not as per international standards.