Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to provide all facilities in the two hostels where the visually impaired students are studying, within four weeks, and submit a compliance report by June 6.
The court directed the government to provide basic amenities like food, sleeping mattresses, beds and mosquito nets, uniforms and cosmetics within three days, and for girl students sanitary napkins.
The court directed that other amenities like refrigerators should be provided repairs to the hostels should be completed in four weeks.
These directions were issued by a division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, in a suo motu taken-up petition based on a news report published in Deccan Chronicle on April 5, ‘Visually impaired students in the city left high and dry.’
The report had highlighted the pathetic conditions in which the visually impaired students were living in the schools, one at Malakpet for girls and another one in the Old City for boys.
After taking up the petition, the court had appointed senior counsel L. Ravichander as amicus curiae to visit the hostels immediately and to submit a report on the conditions there.
Ravichander visited the hostels the same day and submitted a report on Tuesday.
He informed the court that the conditions prevailing in the two hostels were pathetic. Visually impaired children had to walk 200 to 300 metres to go to the toilet. The toilet did not have a door.
Ravichander reported to the court that there was no proper ventilation in classrooms and hostels, no transport was available to take the children to the hospital in case of emergency and no doctor was available at the hostel.
Braille sheets, used by people who are visually impaired, were not provided in the schools. The cots were rusting and the bedsheets provided to the children were in a very bad condition. Senior counsel said sanitary napkins were not provided to the girl students.
Ravichander placed in the court photographs taken in the hostels which showed the unhygienic conditions in the hostel and the dilapidated condition of the buildings.
Ravichander also brought to the notice of the court that when he had visited the hostels, all the staff were present as they might have heard of the court orders. He submitted that he spoke to the journalist who filed the report in Deccan Chronicle and came to know that some attempts had been made to improve the conditions after the report was published.
Chief Justice Sharma, while going through the report filed by Ravichander, observed: “The visually impaired students are subjected to cruelty by not providing basic infrastructure and basic facilities for which they have got every right in a democratic set-up”.
Andevalli Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel for the government, said that the government was taking all steps to revamp the hostels and the school for visually impaired children. He said two government orders had been issued in February enhancing allowances and funds for cosmetics.
He also submitted that a new building was under construction to locate the boys hostel. He requested the court to issue directions and the government was ready to comply within two weeks.
