DC Impact | HC tells govt to rectify shortcomings in hostels for the blind

Hyderabad: A Telangana High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar, on Friday granted four weeks to the state government to rectify shortcomings shown in the report relating to the Government Blind School for girls and boys at Malakpet and Darulshifa.

The High Court had taken a news report published in the Deccan Chronicle regarding the plight of the visually impaired students as a suo motu PIL. It appointed senior counsel L. Ravichander as amicus and urged him to immediately visit the two schools. When the matter came up for hearing, the amicus volunteered to revisit the premises and submit an updated report. The bench on Friday took on file the report, which damned the state-of-affairs in the hostels.

Ravichander, in his 50-page report, which was prepared after his surprise visits to the hostels, pointed out that the security and safety of the girls in the blind school were in jeopardy. He mentioned that the rooms in the girl’s school were not adequately ventilated.

Two wall-mounted fans were only available in a room that accommodated 12 inmates and two girls were expected to sleep in one bunk bed. There is no separate space for luggage. Two blankets used to be given per child every year but from April 2022 no new blanket has been given.

The report also contained that cement pots are dug for plants that are kept vacant; the children frequently fall into the pots while walking and hurting themselves. The report also was critical of the unhygienic conditions in which the blind school for the boys is placed.

The report said that a newly constructed building, which remains unoccupied, was used by police personnel on Ganesh bandobast duty. Even the new residential building has no occupants.

Boys did not even have drinking water in their rooms and the institution is being managed illegally by persons who are not on the rolls of the government. He mentioned that the entire premises surrounding the school towards the boundary wall are unhygienic and are filled with garbage.

He also brought to the notice of the court that the boy’s hostel warden was not present during the visit.