UoH Campus To Become Disabled-Friendly

The Union Ministry Of Social Justice And Empowerment has approved a Grant-in-Aid to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) for the creation of a Barrier-Free Environment, and to provide other facilities for people with disabilities.

A total grant of nearly Rs. 6 crores has been sanctioned for the purpose, and the first installment of over Rs. 4 crores has been released this financial year.

This grant has come under the schemes that arise by implementation of the persons with disabilities act (Equal Opportunities Protection Of Rights And Full Participation Act, 1995-SIPDA).

The grant given will be utilized for the installation of 18 lifts in 15 buildings on the campus. Each lift will be designed to accommodate wheel chairs, in accordance with the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Other fittings like auditory signals, Braille signs and accessible control panels, and other works relating to the creation of a barrier-free environment and other facilities for persons with disabilities, will also be done.

It may be mentioned that after the Vice-Chancellor's initiative to make the campus disabled-friendly, a disability audit was conducted on the campus by Shivani Gupta of Delhi-based organization AccessAbility. This has been done for the first time by a Central University, and now the proposal sent by the UoH has been approved by the ministry.

The buildings that have been identified include the admin building, the Chief Warden's office, the academic complex and the science complex.

The Social Sciences complex, the MBA building, the USIC Level-II and M. Sc. Electronics complex, the humanities complex, the School Of Life Sciences complex, the Centre For Integrated Studies complex, the library building, the AI Laboratory, the New-Lecture Hall complex, the Networking Laboratory (Chemistry) and the new science complex (Chemistry) are other buildings that have also been identified for this purpose.

The project is expected to be completed within 12 months. (INN)