Within three months, the campuses of Bangalore University – in Jnana Bharathi and Central College – will be disabled-friendly. This commitment was given by university Vice-Chancellor B. Thimme Gowda to the Commissioner of Disabilities K. Rajanna on Friday.
A team from the commissioner’s office visited the 1,100-acre Jnana Bharathi campus and found none of the buildings to be accessible for the physically-disabled.
Narrow ramps
“Though ramps were installed in some buildings, we found that they were too narrow or too steep to be of any use for someone on a wheelchair,” said Indresh R., undersecretary, office of the State disabilities commission.
Even the main building, parks, stadium and main auditorium was found to be “below the mark” when it came to access for the disabled, he said.
However, unlike previous audits, the team sought to take a written commitment from the university on fixing the lacunae. “Usually, we send a list of faults to the State government in a report. We found this does not lead to anything positive. This time around, we approached the university directly with the issues and took a written statement which, we believe, is a concrete step,” said Mr. Indresh.
After a discussion, Mr. Gowda suggested three months time to build “scientific” ramps.
