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Para-athlete Suvarna Raj rues lack of proper facilities at Panchkula meet

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@Today #PCI officials didn't allow me to play because I'v raised the voice for rights of #Divyang athletes, so I'm… https://t.co/SZWMOZiQyM — Suvarna Raj (@suvarnapraj) 1522082314000

PANCHKULA: In virtually a re-run of Ghaziabad horror in 2015, several para-athletes, managers and coaches of different states have alleged insensitivity on the part of organizers of the 18th National Para Athletics Championship towards the players and red-flagged the issue of providing improper accommodation and facilities by the Paralympic Committee of India ( PCI ).The five-day meet began at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula on Monday. They have a litany of complaints ranging from washrooms having doors too narrow for the wheelchair to enter to poor drinking water facilities and forcing several players to share a small cramped room.Para-athletes from Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra have been particularly vocal about the lack of facilities.The wheelchair-bound athletes were the worst-hit. “They (the organizers) are making us stay on the ground floor and the washrooms are on the first floor. We are wheelchair-bound and have had to drag ourselves up the stairs since ramps haven’t been provided. That’s why I couldn’t go to the toilet today and had to go out of the building near a bush to respond to nature’s call,” said Sunil, a para-athlete from Bihar.Another from Karnataka said, “The problems faced by the athletes here is due to mismanagement. The organizers are clueless.”Medal-winning Indian para-athlete Suvarna Raj , who raised her voice about the mediocre facilities on Sunday, said, “The officials have been vindictive towards me since morning. They are trying to shut me down. I was not allowed to participate.”Other para-athletes had had similar tales to share. “How can I use the toilet? It is narrow and a wheelchair cannot go inside. The authorities should have made proper arrangement,” said an athlete.Interestingly, the entire contingent from Gujarat is not even living in the accommodation provided by the PCI. They are paying from their own pockets. “When we came here, I was shocked by the kind of accommodation provided to us. So I decided it’s better to pay from my own pocket, but I won’t leave my athletes in a place that looks like a stable,” said Dilip Shukla, the manager of Gujarat team.TOI visited the newly-constructed multipurpose hall at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium and found out that around 600 female para-athletes were somehow squeezed into one big hall. The condition of male para-athletes is even worse. As many as six to seven athletes are sharing one small room.An athlete, on condition of anonymity, told TOI that they have been asked not to talk to the media. “Sab dare hue hai, koi aapse khul ke baat nahi karega, bahut halat kharab hai yahaan (Everyone is scared, no one will talk to you, the facilities are very poor here),” said the athlete.“After the horror show in Ghaziabad in 2015, the federation was dissolved. A new federation has been formed. Still the athletes have been ill-treated. Now what will they do, scrap this federation also?” he added.Dinesh Upadhay, the treasurer of PCI, countered, “These are false accusations. Yes, I accept that the Ghaziabad meet was a nightmare, but here I cannot see any kind of mismanagement.”Surrender Singh, an executive member of the Haryana Paralympic Committee and one of the organizers of the championship, said: “Rs 80 lakh has been given by the Haryana government for the meet and I can assure you that it has been utilized correctly... Rs 85,000 is being used on transportation alone on a daily basis. Wheelchair-bound athletes have been provided separate transportation services.”Ashok Khemka, principal secretary in the department of sports and youth affairs in Haryana government, said: “On our part, we have done our job. We are not organizing the event.”