KOZHIKODE: Kozhikode district administration’s Barrier-Free project aimed at making public places and buildings accessible to the physically challenged is yet to materialise. Planned under its flagship 'Compassionate Kozhikode' project, it has not received the government approval despite a ministerial promise. The district administration has now approached the government again to expedite it. The district collector N. Prasanth said he had sent a Rs 30-crore proposal before elections, and he got an assurance from the then social justice minister Dr M.K. Muneer.
“In November I had directed the public works department to prepare a detailed project report and sent it for approval by March. But the government order has not come till date,” he told DC. Mr Prashanth has now received an assurance from the SJD director P. Bala Kiran to get it done soon. Kannur became the first Barrier-Free district in the state when Mr Kiran was the collector there, on August 15, after 1,842 public institutions were made accessible. It was the first time in India an entire district going barrier-free. The SJD is presently planning to spread the project state-wide.
