Taken from Times of India.
NEW DELHI: Students at the All India Confederation of Blinds in Rohini often get knocked by cars while finding their way to the school premises. Drivers backing without warning or looking around had left three of the girls bruised earlier. The students have a tough time weaving through the vehicles parked haphazardly.
A slip road between Rajeev Gandhi Cancer Hospital, on Bhagwan Mahavir Marg, and a zonal office of North Corporation leads to the school. According to a traffic police order, this road was supposed to remain free for the students, who were trained to get off at the bus stop and count their steps to the
school while keeping to the left side. If they deviate from the path, it is very difficult for them to pick their way back. Even a few steps to get around an obstacle like a parked car can make them lose their bearings. The absence of a guide, coupled with speeding vehicles, makes the girls all the more vulnerable.
"The drivers generally don't give us any signal expecting us to see them. They end up grazing us or knocking us down," said Saraswati, one of the students. They have memorized their way to the service lane from the bus stop and use the slip road before taking a left turn towards the school. Traffic cops had even fenced off the left side and issued a no-parking order. But the barricades have been removed and motorists are back to their old ways," said J L Kaul, founder member of the school. He said the slip road now has vehicles parked on both sides.
Most of these cars belong to the people visiting the Rohini zonal office across the road, locals said. The space allotted for parking inside the zonal office was used for dumping garbage and damaged vehicles. The underground parking served as office space. "We tried to remove the dumped vehicles but it was taking too long so we gave up," said a senior corporation official.
The locals also observed that the service lane beside Bhagwan Mahavir Marg which could have been an alternative parking space was dug up recently. Not only does it pose another hurdle for the students but also forces visitors to park their vehicles near the blind school. Worse still, the slip road is
two-way, so the students have to run the gauntlet of traffic coming from the other side as well.
Source: Times of India.
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