A student’s effort and determination has paved way for a phenomenal change in the campus of Panjab University. In a major development, authorities are constructing separate toilets for transgender students on campus.
According to a Better India report, Dhananjay Mangalmukhi, a transgender and currently a Masters student pursuing human rights and duties in the university, has been demanding to have separate washrooms for transgender students since 2014.
With Panjab University’s move to introduce the third gender column in their admission forms in 2015, Mangalmukhi had tried negotiating with the administrative authorities about separate washrooms.
According to Gaylaxy magazine, the Panjab University informed Mangalmukhi, that if any transgender student takes admission in the institution, the officials would indeed proceed with the request. Notably in 2016, Mangalmukhi joined the same university as a student and actively took up the cause and wrote an application for construction of separate toilets for transgenders.
Her persistence has paid off after an entire year of struggle. The application was given a heads up by PU and a budget of Rs 23 lakh allocated for the setup, making itself the first university in the country to do so. Construction of the washroom began earlier this month.
The first transgender student in the university, Dhananjay initially found it difficult moving around the campus, not without being subjected to glances and stares by other students.
The move by the university followed soon after the Centre’s green light for a bill that grants people from the transgender community the choice of using any public toilet facilities.
