Hello list members, Please read this NDTV coverage. I'm sorry if this has been posted before. ----------- Last year, NDTV uncovered a story on residents of a colony in Chennai who were opposing a school for the visually challenged in their neighbourhood all because they felt looking at visually challenged people is bad omen.
A media outcry helped the NGO set up the school. Now, there's a new challenge. The local authorities seem reluctant to provide drinking water and drainage facilities, citing a technical reason. This new residential training school for the visually challenged has come up with the required Government approval. But for more than a month, the NGO that built it has been waiting for a drinking water and drainage connection. The local panchayat has refused to provide these basic facilities. This is allegedly under pressure from affluent neighbours who are opposed to a school for the differently-abled coming up in their vicinity. In the beginning, the neighbours did not want this home to come up here. Many believed looking at visually challenged people every morning would be a bad omen. And it took a court battle to start the construction. The plot was a gift from the Tamil Nadu government. Now, over a hundred visually challenged students have been forced to continue in their old cramped school. "They say the drainage and water connections are purely for the housing board allotees and not meant for any other people. This is clearly a strategy to avoid us," says Gopi, Founder, Nethrodaya. The panchayat president refused to comment. When NDTV took up this issue with the Collector, he promised to look into it "The district administration will take a decision on merit, having in mind they are physically challenged people," says G. Sundaramurthi, Collector, Tiruvallur district. The school's motto says let's share the light, but neighbours here allegedly don't want to share even the basic common facilities. Clearly what's required is a change in mindsets. Regards, Abdul To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
