After an year of relentless campaigning by the blind and the other residents of the locality for a signal that will give audio signals, the project, which was sent for approval to the Central Government by the district collector, has been cleared. Amazingly, it was cleared in 15 days. Work on installing the signal is expected to begin the next fortnight.

The signal will beep small, clear messages to pedestrians, warning them when the traffic flow is on and advising them when the traffic has stopped, making it safe to cross the road. In the absence of any such indicator, a routine task for the sighted like crossing a road had become a harrowing ordeal for the blind.

Money for the project has been sanctioned by Rajya Sabha MP Brahmakumar Bhatt. He has has granted Rs 7 lakh from his MP's fund.

The signal will be set up at Drishti Char Rasta, near the Blind People's Organisation. This is the first time in the country that a city's local administration has shown empathy to problems faced by the disabled.

Collector V.S. Gadhvi, who had recommended the case, is elated by the quick response shown by the centre. ``Since it was for a much needed cause I did not see any reason why it should not have been cleared. But even I was amazed to hear from Minister of Planning Ram Naik so quickly,'' he said.

Says Nandini Rawal, project director at the Blind People's Organisation, ``We have about 800 people visiting the association every day, and these include students, workshop personnel, others coming for loans, counselling etc. Since the time Vastrapur became a big settlement, and the 132 feet ring road came up right in front of the Association building, crossing the road has become a big problem for our visitors.''

``Numerous accidents have happened, involving the blind, who routinely cross the road to reach the Blind People's Organisation,'' says Chandrakant Solanki, a 39-year-old Braille Press reader at the institute. Solanki says he is unable to gauge from which direction the traffic is coming.

``For 10 years I was commuting from Nadiad to Ahmedabad but the problems I have faced in the last one year are unparalleled,'' he rues.

The much needed grant has come through the tireless efforts of the Blind People's Organisation and local residents in voicing their needs and demanding that the State Government take some positive measures. The organisation has also been making demands for a footpath along the road near the area, a subway, and pedestrian crossing lights that bleep to indicate it is safe to cross.

Social worker Aarti Parihar, a resident of the Department of Space colony, had compiled signatures of about 1,000 people residing in the locality, pleading the cause and sent them to the chief minister, the municipal commissioner and the chairperson of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority.

Estimates for the project had been taken from the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd as the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had expressed inability to come up with the quoted figure of Rs 7 lakh. In a letter to the Ahmedabad Collector, a copy of which was sent to Minister for Planning and Implementation Ram Naik, Bhatt has confirmed that he has released the amount from the MP's fund to make crossing roads easier for the blind.