At Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru, a new wheelchair-accessible toilet was inaugurated this Saturday. For hundreds of differently-abled visitors who wheel through the gates of this heritage space every week, it finally meets a long-ignored need.
Lalbagh In Bengaluru Gets A Wheelchair-Friendly Toilet
According to the New Indian Express, the facility has been constructed by the Bengaluru-based accessibility NGO Ramp My City, in collaboration with the Australian Consulate. The site was identified by the office of Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, and the land was made available by the Karnataka Government’s Horticulture Department, which manages the garden. The Australian High Commissioner to India, Phillip Green, and Consul-General in Bengaluru, Hillary McGreachy, were present for the launch, alongside Ramp My City founder Prateek Khandelwal.
This initiative joins a string of accessibility upgrades across the Bengaluru South district, where Ramp My City, with the support of Surya’s office, has already installed ramps in more than 15 public offices and police stations. In 2023, the NGO even created a covered resting point for wheelchair users and gig workers outside the MP’s office, quietly challenging the idea that accessibility ends at physical disability.
The timing isn’t accidental as well. In less than a month, Lalbagh will host its famous Independence Day Flower Show; it is a riot of colour and tradition that sees families, tourists, and schoolchildren pour through the gates in waves. But for years, differently-abled visitors and elderly guests have navigated it without proper facilities. And now, we finally have a solution!
Also Read: Bengaluru Locals Dress Up As Squid Games Characters; The Motive Isn’t What You Expect!
A Bigger Initiative In The Making
MP Tejasvi Surya thinks that this initiative may be small but it can have powerful consequences. He also stressed that symbolic gestures mean little without functional infrastructure and believes that inclusion should not be treated as a token and must be entrenched in all aspects of the functioning of public facilities.
Lalbagh, being the crowd magnet it is, serves as a fitting stage for an initiative like this. As one of Bengaluru’s most visited green spaces, it receives a steady stream of senior citizens, children with special needs, wheelchair users, and caregivers. Until now, many had to plan visits with limited mobility; that changes with a locked door that they can finally unlock.
For Prateek Khandelwal, who has been in a wheelchair himself since a spinal injury in 2014, the goal is public empathy, and he aspires to redesign it.
This toilet is a structure of steel and concrete, but it also marks something harder to build: momentum.
Cover Image Courtesy: muhammadmahdikarim/Wikipedia and ozgurdonmaz/CanvaPro
For more such snackable content, interesting discoveries and the latest updates on food, travel and experiences in your city, download the Curly Tales App. Download HERE.