Kamal Ghorui
CHANDIGARH: Senior AAP leader Anurag Dhanda on Saturday accused the BJP government in Haryana of stopping about 37,000 players’ diet allowance in the state for the past 10 months.He further slammed the ruling party for allegedly citing “absurd” reasons to refuse pension payments to over 75,000 elderly people in Haryana.Speaking to mediapersons here, AAP’s national media in-charge Dhanda said Haryana has always been the land of sports, and most of the players who have raised the country’s tricolour high in the Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games have come from this soil.“But today, those same players are asking whether the value of their hard work and medals is limited only to garnering applause on election platforms,” Dhanda said.He attacked Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini and said the players shed their blood and sweat on the field all day, and their parents, who earn their livelihood through hard work, work to help them win medals.Dhanda alleged that the state government had not paid the diet allowance of 37,000 players who practise in sports nurseries in the state for the past 10 months.The purpose of the sports nurseries was to enable grassroots players to get good training and nutrition so they could compete at the national and international levels, he said.He further claimed that the coaches training these players have not received their salaries either for 10 months.“Should the players focus on arranging their meals or preparing for their sport?” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader questioned.Dhanda alleged that the state government was closing the nurseries for two months every year. “Does any athlete prepare for international medals by taking a two-month break?” he asked.On the alleged suspension of pension payments to over 75,000 elderly people, he said, “If a farmer receives Rs 1.50 or Rs 2 lakh in their account for their crop, they are being told that they have an income of Rs 3 lakh and therefore, they cannot receive pension. This means the Nayab government considers a farmer who sells crops worth Rs 3 lakh to be wealthy,” he claimed.In some cases, pensions are being stopped by citing the total family income in the Parivar Pehchan Patra (family ID) and in some cases, due to mismatches in name, surname or age, he claimed.At many places, the entire family’s income is being considered, even though the elderly person’s income has no connection to the family’s income, he added.Hundreds of elderly people and women are queuing up at government offices across Haryana, asking why their pensions have been cut, the AAP leader said.
