Unmoved

A recce by the Newsline team revealed that the city has a good record. Almost all the major buildings of Ludhiana — from the railway station to the Mini Secretariat — have ramps and elevators.

But city’s prestigious Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) chooses to differ.

The university has not made any provision for the disabled to help them move around on the campus. Though the university does not have any highrises,second and third floors are common in all its buildings.

Sample this: Thapar Hall the main administrative building of the university houses the office of Registrar Dr R K Mahey. The office is on the second floor and a spiral staircase leads to the office. How a disabled person would reach the office is a big mystery. The entrance to the hall has an elevator but it boldly states ‘Only for VIPs’. A security guard standing there ensures that only top guns of the university avail themselves of the service.

What more there is no provision of a wheel chair in any of the buildings of the university.

Shveta Singla (name changed) an alumnus of the university is afflicted with polio. Her stay in the university is interspersed with the tales of lack of empathy. “One major respite that I enjoyed during my stay on the campus was that I was given a hostel room on the ground floor. Trying to get into the library building was an uphill task. The entrance has these three steps and there is no railing that I could grasp to get into the library. Each time I had to ask seek help from passersby. Most of the offices and departments of the university were inaccessible. I think no one is bothered.”

But a senior officer takes a plea-lack of funds.

Dr Gurkirpal Singh,estate officer,said,”We never had the funds to make these changes. Now we have made some provision from the Rs 100-crore grant and we have decided to make at least one big ramp in the College of Agriculture.” So far so good but the ground reality is that while PAU spent a part of its grant on painting the buildings that were in pretty good shape,nothing has been done for the disabled.

The only ramp at vet varsity
The situation at GADVASU is a little better. The main administration block of the university has a ramp. Dr K S Sandhu,estate officer-cum-Director Students Welfare,said,”We have stationed a person at the stairs who guides people to the ramp. Our college building and hostels have a provision for elevator. We do not have lifts but they would be installed soon.”