Make JNU campus accessible for PwD students: AISA urges VC

New Delhi: Asserting that the JNU campus remains "inaccessible" for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the All India Students' Association (AISA) on Thursday urged Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit to resolve the long-pending issue.

In the letter to Pandit, AISA mentioned an incident wherein a wheelchair-bound student fell on the road behind the School of Social Sciences on June 22.

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"Sourya Sood had repeatedly approached the Vice-Chancellor's office regarding the lack of accessibility in many places on campus. However, the Vice-Chancellor has not yet acted on the issues raised by him," claimed AISA. AISA said it conducted a survey and it showed that PwD students face several problems on the campus.

"JNU campus is still inaccessible for persons with disabilities. These issues become a barrier to living a dignified life and accessing equal opportunities," the AISA said in the letter. The AISA said some of the elevators in the School of International Studies-I don't go to the basement where the canteens are located and some of the prime locations like Central Library and Stadium Road still don't have a tactile path.

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"The laptops which the library gives to students with special needs are extremely outdated. There is no provision for Braille newspaper even in the library," the letter read.

"There used to be a dedicated worker for PwD students in the mess but this also has been stopped. Further none of the tables in any hostel's mess are wheelchair-friendly," it said. AISA also claimed that the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Health centre has no special worker to assist PwD students.

The AISA said the there is no representation of PwD in the Campus Development Committee (CDC). "The JNU admin must immediately pay attention and resolve the long pending issues of PwD students of the campus," it added.