A viral video came out showing U-17 players getting food that was kept on the floor of a toilet room.
In a stadium in Saharanpur over 200 U-17 kabaddi players were served food which was kept on a floor of a toilet room next to the men’s urinal. The source of the news came out after a viral video that was released on social media showed a triggering image of the condition, the way the athlete was being treated, and improper hygiene. It received massive hate and criticism from all over the country to the authority who was responsible for it.
As soon as the images and video were shared in the different press and news channels on September 18th did not take seconds for it to become viral like anything according to which the UP government did not wait to suspend the sports officer of Saharanpur Animesh Saxena, even ordered an inquiry against him as well as the contractor who was responsible for cooking food and serve it to the players was blacklisted by the government.
The viral and disgusting video drew the attention of many renowned politicians in the country from Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi to Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal even union sports minister Anurag Thakur stated that strict action will be taken against it.
Varun Gandhi tweeted about the situation saying “is this the success of Indian sportspeople despite the system rather than due to it”? This constantly disrespectful behavior is a great shame for our nation”.
Delhi’s Chief Minister said that “if this is how we treat our sportsperson, how will India win Olympic golds? How will India become No.1 in sports?”
In the video, some athletes were taking part in the sub-junior girl’s kabaddi tournament which was being held in Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur. They were being served rice from a plate on the floor of the toilet. It was organized from September 16th to 18th with over 200 players from teams across 16 divisions in the state.
The additional chief secretary of sports Navneet Sehgal said that the matter has been handed over to the DM (District Magistrate) of Saharanpur and also the staff who were involved in it will be mentioned.
He also stated that all the district sports officers including facilities have been notified about this incident and also that this kind of activity will not be tolerated and repeated.
Mr. R.P. Singh has been nominated as the inquiry officer for the disciplinary proceeding against the sports officer Saxena, Mr. Singh has been given an order to complete this inquiry and submit it within a month.
Adding to all of this controversy the DM stated that the sports officer did not inform the authority about this state-level tournament.
