Disabled research scholars at Panjab University have a strange problem that is keeping them from their food: a long walk and a monkey menace. Since the university's authorities have not yet started the mess facility at their hostel, these visually impaired students have to trek from their hostel to the next, during which they claim they're afraid of being attacked by monkeys on campus. And this has been a daily rite of passage for three months.
Dheeru Yadav and Uttam Verma live on campus in Hostel #3. Both of them are research scholars at PU who joined PU after completing their MA degrees from JNU. Both of them are visually impaired. Verma says, "We have to go to Hostel #1 to eat our daily meals. It is approximately 1.5 km to 2 km away, the footpath is broken and we walk under constant fear of being attacked by monkeys." Just ten days ago, Yadav says, he fell down while he was on his way to eat lunch. "I was walking alone to lunch when someone from the back screamed 'monkeys monkeys'."
He adds, "I got scared and fell down." Yadav estimates that there are about 15 to 20 disabled research scholars on campus, two of whom live in the same hostel. He says that the problem is mainly during the day because as night falls, there are fewer vehicles on the road and even the monkeys seem to disperse. Yadav hails from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh while Verma is from Chattisgarh. "We were friends in JNU and decided to move to another city — Delhi was too polluted for us but the JNU campus was much more disabled-friendly than PU," Verma adds.
When asked why the situation had not been addressed, Associate Dean of Student Welfare, Ashok Kumar, says, "Due to COVID, the campus has been shut for a long time and there are not many students or scholars on campus. We have reopened the mess in some hostels as reopening it in all would've been a financial loss for the contractor." He adds, "By the first week of October, we will resume the mess facility for other hostels."
When asked about the on-campus monkey problem, he asks, "Why would monkeys target someone?" before adding, "There are monkeys on the other side and not on the road from Hostel #3 to Hostel #1. Even if now and then there are one or two monkeys on that road, there will always be someone around to help."
