Visually impaired college students staged a protest here on Friday alleging that the State government was meting out a step-motherly treatment to children with visual impairment.

The demonstration was held in front of the office of the Department of Women and Child Welfare here.

The protesters alleged that several schemes announced for the benefit of visually impaired students have not been implemented.

Citing an example, they said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in his 2014 budget said that 1,000 visually impaired students would be given laptops every year at a cost of Rs. 4 crore. Though the scheme was launched in Bengaluru where a select few blind students were given laptops, but a large number of students of north Karnataka region were left out. Repeated appeals to the elected representatives and higher officials did not yield results, they added.

According to the visually impaired protesters, even the scholarships disbursed by the government every month for blind students was not reaching the beneficiaries at all.

Last year, the government announced that college fee of visually impaired students would be refunded, but that has not happened in reality.

Among their other demands, the protesters urged the government to simplify the process of issuing medical certificates to visually impaired persons, and distribute free bus passes to blind students.