Tipu Palace becomes disabled-friendly

The Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace in Bengaluru has become the first Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) monument in Karnataka and the third in the country to have facilities such as the tactile pathway and Braille signage. The facilities, installed by Bhopal-based NGO called Arushi, were inaugurated here on Friday. With the new facility in place, visually impaired persons will now be able to access the site on their own and experience its grandeur.

Two other monuments that have both Braille signage and tactile pathway in India are Sanchi Stupa in Bhopal and Lakshmana Temple at Sirur in Chhattisgarh. ASI now plans to provide these facilities in monuments at Belur, Halebidu, Chitradurga Fort and Shravanabelagola.

“The tactile pathway is a special tile laid on a stretch of 160 metres from the entrance of the palace gate to the toilet so that the monument becomes easily accessible to the visually impaired. Besides that, the Braille signage has been installed at the entrance for the blind persons to read and experience the structure,” said T. Arun Raj, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Bengaluru Circle. “We have installed these facilities at a cost of Rs. 7 lakh,” he said.

S.V.P. Halakatti, former ASI Director said: “As much as 2.21 per cent of the population in the country comprises people with disabilities. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is providing financial help to ASI to make 3,500 centrally protected monuments disabled-friendly in a phased manner.”

A brochure on Tipu’s Palace in Braille would be available at the site, and would also be given to visually impaired visitors. Of the 500 volunteers of NGO ‘Arushi’ from Bhopal, Anil Mudgal, Rohit Trivedi, Harmeet Mehta and Shefali Tripathi Mehta were in Bengaluru for the installation of the facilities at Tipu Palace.

100 buildings in Bengaluru to become disabled-friendly

The State government has identified 100 buildings in Bengaluru to make them disabled-friendly in the first phase, according to Rajneesh Goel, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development. Visvesvaraya Towers, Bengaluru City Railway Station, Kandaya Bhavan and government hospitals are among the buildings identified, he added.

Additional Secretary (Tourism) Pradeep Singh Kharola said that the campaign, “Monuments for All”, would be extended to buildings of Karnataka government to facilitate barrier-free movement.

“We have offered our services to the ASI and the Karnataka government to work on buildings here and make them more accessible to the differently-abled. It takes time in designing this as the ‘pathway tile’ and the ‘warning tile’ in the tactile pathway has to be sourced from a tile manufacturing company. It has to be ordered after initial study of the area. While cane sticks of the visually-impaired feel these tiles for finding their path, the Braille signage can be permanently accessed for information at the entrance as it is made of aluminuim,” explained Anil Mudgal, who is behind all the three ASI sites that have Braille signage and tactile pathway facilities.

Arushi, the 25-year-old NGO, has made 100 buildings across the country disabled-friendly.

Gulzar pens poem to mark the occasion

Poet Gulzar is one of the volunteers of Arushi, the Bhopal-based NGO, which provided its services for free for the installation of the tactile pathway and Braille signage at the Tipu Palace in Bengaluru. A verse written by Gulzar specially for the occasion succinctly spoke of “monuments that have to bring in a vision of egalitarianism by extending a good experience to all”. It was read out at the Tipu’s Palace when the facilities for the visually impaired were inaugurated on Friday. “Gulzar saab wrote the verse in just an hour. He was too happy to be contributing this for Bengaluru,” said Anil Mudgal, volunteer of Arushi. The poem, juxtaposed on the poster of Tipu’s Palace, was released on the occasion.