HC seeks DDA response on demolition of blind students' hostel

The Delhi High Court today sought response of the DDA over its decision to demolish a hostel for the blind which left 20 visually impaired students without a roof in winter.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also expressed concern over their rehabilitation and sought to know from the local authorities about their well-being.
The bench directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to submit a status report, giving details of the place they have been shifted to.
The court issued notice to the authorities after it came across a news report that occupants of a hostel for visually impaired students in Janakpuri's Virender Nagar here have been sleeping in the open for almost a week now, after the DDA demolished their hostel on December 15.

The high court on its own initiated proceedings against the authorities after the news report alleged that the occupants were neither given prior information about the demolition nor ample time to gather their belongings.
The hostel, Louis Welfare Progressive Association of the Blind, has been running for the last 17 years. Around 20 people, mostly students of Delhi University or the nearby Sarvodaya school, used to stay there.