Despite promise by Sports Ministry, job eludes Girisha

The London Paralympics silver medallist blams the Sports Ministry for discriminating against the paralympians

July 31, 2013 05:05 pm | Updated 05:05 pm IST - New Delhi

Silver medalist India's Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda reacts after clearing the bar in the men's high jump F42 classification final during the athletics competition at the 2012 Paralympics, in London. File photo

Silver medalist India's Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda reacts after clearing the bar in the men's high jump F42 classification final during the athletics competition at the 2012 Paralympics, in London. File photo

London Paralympics silver medallist H N Girisha on Wednesday accused the Sport Ministry for not keeping its promise of giving him a “Class-1 Executive Officer” job with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) after his achievement at the Paralympic Games in the UK last year.

“Before the Olympics, the Sports Ministry announced that whoever will win a medal in London, would be given a Class-1 Executive Officer job in SAI. But I still haven’t got a job,” Girisha said.

After returning from London, the 25-year-old high-jumper applied to for a job with SAI, which is a normal process, and was promised to be given one within a six-month time.

But since then a year has passed and he is yet to get any response from either SAI or the Sports Ministry.

Girisha also claimed that during the Padma Shri award ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in January this year, he had met with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who promised to look into the matter.

“When I met the Prime Minister, he congratulated me. I gave him a letter and he said that he would forward it to the Sports Ministry,” Girisha said.

He blamed the Sports Ministry for discriminating against the paralympians.

“Every Olympian, who is interested in SAI, has already got a job. But in spite of being a silver medal winner, I was denied any job,” he said.

He, however, said that the Indian Government has handed him the cash amount of Rs. 30 lakhs, as promised, for winning the silver medal in London.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.