Archers clean toilets, get ‘poor’ food at UP hostel
LUCKNOW: More than 26 archers of national repute at the Uttar Pradesh government-run hostel at Sonbhadra in Mirzapur district are “being forced to clean toilets, drink dirty water, mow the lawn and eat substandard food”.
Archers, including Archana Singh, Prachi, Amit Singh and Anil Maurya, went on a threeday hunger strike and lodged a complaint with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and sports minister, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, demanding action against the ‘wrongdoers’.
Normalcy returned to the hostel after district administration officials, including the commissioner, intervened on Monday, but soon after a posse of policemen reportedly raided the campus.
“The officials are forcing us to withdraw the complaint. On Monday, a good number of cops raided our hostel and warned us to withdraw the complaint,” said an archer on condition of anonymity.
The complaint letter, a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times, has been signed by 21 archers including six girls and blames sports officer Anil Tewari for their ‘woes’. The letter says that besides substandard food and poor-quality water, there is no refrigerator, room coolers, and no security in the girls’ hostel.
“We are forced to clean toilets and cut grass. When we brought this to the notice of Mr Tewari, we are threatened and even abused,” said another archer.
They also claimed that six archers left the hostel this year while two others were asked to leave after they protested. “We are also not being given equipment like target face and target stands,” he said.
As per the state government policy, ~250 is to be spent on daily diet, but at the Sonbhadra hostel, the players are getting ~145 per day. “Non-vegetarian food, milk, butter and fruits are not being given to us,” said another archer.
Tewari said he had submitted his reply to ‘higher authorities’.
Director sports, RP Singh said an enquiry was being conducted. “Action will be taken against the guilty, if any,” he said.