Wrestler Divya Kakran, who won a bronze medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games, on Sunday tweeted that despite practicing and living in Delhi for the past 20 years, she had never been awarded any money by the state government, nor has she received any help till date.
She was reacting to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulating her for the latest win.
“I thank the honourable Chief Minister from the bottom of my heart for congratulating me. For the past 20 years, I have lived and practiced wrestling in Delhi but till now, I have not been awarded any money or received any help from the state government,” she tweeted.
“It is my request that you honour me just the way you honour other players, who despite being from Delhi play for a different state,” she added.
मेडल की बधाई देने पर दिल्ली के माननीय मुख्यमंत्री जी को तहे दिल से धन्यवाद मेराआपसे एक निवेदन है की मै पिछले 20 साल से दिल्ली मे रह रही हू ओर यही अपने खेल कुश्ती का अभ्यास कर रही हू परंतुअब तक मुझे राज्य सरकारसे किसी तरह की कोई इनाम राशि नही दी गई न कोई मदद दी गई @ArvindKejriwal
— Divya kakran (@DivyaWrestler) August 7, 2022
Responding to the tweet, Aam Aadmi Party national spokesperson, Saurabh Bhardwaj, said,
“The whole country is proud of you, sister. But I can’t remember that you played for the state of Delhi. You have always played for Uttar Pradesh. But a player belongs to the country. You do not expect any awards from Yogi Adityanath ji. I am sure the Delhi CM will listen to you.”
Responding to Kakran’s tweet, an official statement from the Delhi government spokesperson said, “The Delhi government respects all sportspersons in the country and wish for a bright future for them. If Divya Kakran has played on behalf of Delhi, or has been part of any sports scheme in Delhi or has applied for any such scheme, the state government will certainly look into what she has said.
This is not the first time Kakran has told Kejriwal that she has not got the support she expected from Delhi.
Speaking at a felicitation ceremony after her Asian Games win (bronze medal) in 2018, Kakran had told Kejriwal that she did not get support during preparation.
“When I won a medal in Asian championships, nothing was done for me. I come from very tough circumstances. You need to think about supporting poor children. Today you have called us here but when we need it the most, no one helps us… if we get support when we need it the most, we can give our 100% and even get a gold. When I won a medal during CWG, you had called and said you will help us. I had asked for support for training for Asian Games but nothing happened. I sent a letter stating the things I wanted but after that no one even took my calls. Today I am getting accolades but when I wanted it, I didn’t get support. Please think about the children who are starting out now… Delhi has got very few medals. Look at Haryana, they give medallists Rs 3 crore. Delhi has now decided to raise the amount from Rs 20 lakh to 1 crore,” she had said.
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Kejriwal had assured to support her at the time.
