Bihar wheelchair basketball champs face state apathy, sponsorship blues
With no backing from the state government, the Wheelchair Basketball Association of Bihar (WBAB) is racing against time to host the two-day East Zone Wheelchair Basketball Championship which begins on May 30, said the president of WBAB.
“The Bihar government’s apathy in granting permission to practice on basketball courts in government park; making available specially-designed wheelchairs for the players under a benevolent scheme of the chief minister and the lack of sponsorship, has put the event into jeopardy,” said Deepak Kumar Singh, the president of the WBAB.
According to Singh, teams from West Bengal and Odisha have already been invited for a triangular contest, involving the hosts Bihar, for the two-day event, which will also be the zonal selection trial for the national championship to be held sometime in July or August.
“We will be forced to postpone or cancel the tournament if we cannot raise ₹2 lakh (approx.) required for the tournament,” Singh added.
Singh, who has represented the state thrice in the wheelchair basketball national championships, however, has found little support in his home state, despite the government felicitating him last year with the ‘Bihar Khel Samman’ for making it to the second spot in handicap rugby football, 2019-20.
Deepak was not alone the Bihar government had felicitated for bringing laurels to the state in handicap rugby football. Gaya’s Shailesh Kumar, who has represented the state in four national wheelchair basketball championships, and Bhojpur’s Dheeraj Kumar, who played in one national event, were also among those the state had felicitated last year.
Deepak has been struggling to get written permission from the department of environment, forest and climate change to allow his 10-12 members state team to practice on the basketball court at the Shaheed Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park, a public park, built by the British Raj in 1916 on Hardinge Road in Patna. The park, with two cemented basketball courts in it, is under the custody of the forest department.
“I have personally approached the ranger and the district forest officer of parks in Patna for permission to allow my team play there from May 21 to 28, but we are yet to get the approval,” said Singh.
Forest officials however said that they don’t have the necessary permission to play on the basketball courts. “They do not have any permission to play on our basketball court. I allowed them to use our basketball court on Saturday on humanitarian grounds. They have to apply to the competent authority (DFO, parks) for permission,” said forester Arvind Kumar at the Shaheed Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park. However, DFO parks, Shashikant, said: “I have allowed them to use our court and practice there for 10 days. Today being Sunday, the range officer will issue necessary instructions tomorrow. In parks, we make facilities for visitors’ amusement, not to cater to the need of any standard players… The nodal department for them (wheelchair basketball players) is the art, culture, and youth affairs.”
Singh alleged that the social welfare department had also played truant.
“I applied for the specially designed wheelchair under the chief minister’s scheme for the specially-abled in 2019. When I didn’t get it all these years, I sought an appointment to meet chief minister Nitish Kumar at his Janata Darbar. When my turn came to meet the chief minister on April 11, the same morning I got a call from the social welfare department informing me that my request for the wheelchair has been processed and I didn’t need to go and meet the CM. It has been 40 days after that and the wheelchair is still elusive,” Singh said.
According to a social welfare department officer, Singh’s request is being processed. “The state disabilities commissioner has verified it and it now has to be vetted by our purchase committee, which meets once in six months. Government work takes time,” said an officer of the unique disability identity card project of the social welfare department, Bihar, requesting anonymity.