Students and staff of Tikshna, an organisation for rehabilitation of the visually impaired, staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Wednesday in support of their demands, including release of grants from the State government.

They took out a procession and raised slogans against the alleged negligent attitude of the authorities in providing facilities to the organisation.

Donations

Addressing the protesters, organisation secretary K.B. Shrinivas stated that Tikshna was involved in providing free education, accommodation and other facilities to visually impaired children from poor families in the district for the past 12 years. The organisation was being run on donations.

'More needed'

The State government decided to provide financial assistance to the organisation in recognition of its services, but the amount promised was far lower than the assistance received by aided schools in the State.

“Schools working for the welfare of visually impaired children should get more funds than aided schools, as these children need more facilities,” he added.

The protesters demanded new classrooms, construction of separate hostels for male and female students, fixing teachers' salaries on a par with aided school teachers and release of funds for construction of buildings for these schools from the MLA and MLC Local Area Development Fund, among others.

Memorandum

They submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and said the agitation would be intensified if their demands were not fulfilled.