Hoping for better facilities visually impaired exercise right to franchise

Amritsar, June 1

Visually impaired electorate voted at the Institute of Blind here on Saturday. Mohammad Sultan, a BA second year student of the institute, said going for shopping in markets or parks for recreation was a challenge for the people with visual disability.

Heavy traffic and haphazard parking on roads left little room for them to move without a guide. Speeding vehicles made crossing a road an uphill task for them.

Shrawan Kumar, a final year BA student, said the Lohgarh road outside the Institute of Blind and another near Katra Jai Mal Singh inside the walled city were one-way stretches. In other words, traffic never stopped on these roads. There was no way a physically challenged person could conveniently cross these roads. Footpaths were nine inch to one-foot high from the road level, he said.

Rohit Kumar, a Class X student, said the level of footpaths from the road was high. In public parks too the pathway was high denying visually impaired an opportunity to stroll. Concrete obstacles had been raised to slow down the influx of people in parks. Physically challenged people on wheelchairs and those walking with sticks could not stroll in parks due to these obstacles. He said the city did not have any toilet for persons with disabilities.

A visually impaired Gurpreet Singh (23), who hails from Hoshiarpur’s Tahli village, has been residing in the city for last 17 years. He said he exercised his right to franchise for the development of the city and the country. “My father Capt (retd) Mangat Singh served in the Army. It is our duty to ensure that right people are elected to run the government,” he said.