July 9, 2019
Citizen activism pays off and how. From New Delhi, comes the kind of
story that we like to tell.
Kajal Sharma is thrilled that she can finally visit the
Shri Radha Krishna Sanatan Dharma Temple in her East Delhi
neighbourhood. Kajal, who is 40 years old and a wheelchair user, had to make
do with offering darshan outside the temple as there were no ramps
built.
As someone who was born in this neighbourhood and lived here all her life,
this rankled Kajal deeply. Matters came to a head during the Dussehra
festivities last year when she could not enter the temple even on such a
special day. She decided to petition temple authorities, a move that was
covered on Newz Hook.
Her activism paid off with temple authorities building two ramps, one each at
the front and rear side.
I am feeling so happy that the ramps have been built. We started the
campaign last year and initially temple authorities were not receptive to
the idea. But we did not give up and kept up the pressure. We met with the
authorities a few times and appealed to them and they finally agreed. I
have lived here all my life, and this is a special moment for me. I can
pray with everyone else now and it feels good that I have helped bring
about this change. – Kajal Anand, Disability rights
activist
Seeing the number of devotees, they have made happy with this move,
Yashpal Goel, who is the president of the temple, is
planning to introduce more features.
“So many devotees, like the elderly and people with disabilities, have
appreciated this move. The response has been overwhelmingly good, and we plan
to add railings so people can walk up the ramps easily”. There are a few
who devotees who feel the look of the temple has been spoiled by the ramps
but Goel says these are too few to count. “It did not cost that much and
more importantly; it feels good to have done this because now everyone can
visit the temple”.
Kajal’s brother Parul Sharma, who is an accessibility
specialist, hopes this will lead to more temples and places of worship
following suit.
“Providing a Ramp and an assistive device (like a wheelchair) to enable a
person with disability/ senior citizens to access a religious building is
worship in the true sense. I feel that initiatives like the one in present
case, should be replicated in all the religious places and proposed Smart
Cities across the country and relevant stakeholders and decision makers
should come forward to set an example and help in making India a barrier free
and accessible nation”.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/22773
