India Politics Sports

Haryana Govt orders athletes to hand over their 1/3 salary to state, Outrage sparks

Haryana Govt orders athletes to hand over their 1/3 salary to state, Outrage sparks

The Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana created a dramatic issue by ordering 33% of the revenue generated by the state’s professional sportspersons through advertisement and sports should be deposited in the Haryana Sports Council. The Government has argued behind this strange order that these funds will be used for the development of sports in the state. Apart from this, an extra order issued by Khattar Government and in this order it has been written about the players who have been given government job by the state government, their salary will also be deducted, when will they available for an advertisement or sports event. 

The second point of the order is also going to be too tough for Haryana sportspersons as if any player signs commercial endorsements without the permission of the government or participates in any kind of professional sports, then all the income generated from the respective event/Advertisement will be deposited in the government account. The Khattar government has issued this order in the notification of the Official Gazette of 30th April 2018. This order has been issued by the Chief Secretary Ashok Khemka, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs in the Government of Haryana. He confirmed this in a media interview.

Haryana is a state where many sportsmen have come from other sports besides cricket which has illuminated the name of India in the Olympics. Among them are big names such as boxer Vijender Singh, wrestler Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Foghat and Geeta Phogat. Obviously, this order of government will affect the income of all these players.

Wrestler Babita Phogat, while giving her comment in the media on this order of the Haryana Government, said, “Does the Government know how hard a player works for this? How can they ask for the one-third part of the income? Instead of respect, the players of Haryana are now a burden over the Haryana Government. The government should have at least talked about it to us. She added

Wrestler and Olympic bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt Called it a senseless decision said the contrition from these officials have been zero and such a move will result in the decline of sports. “God save us from such officials, who are taking senseless decisions like this. Their contribution to the development of sports in the state has been zero till yet but I am sure, they will play a big role in the decline of sports in the state,” he tweeted.

Two-time Olympic medallist and veteran wrestler Sushil Kumar said that the government should make policies to encourage athletes. “I have not yet seen the notification. I can only say that the athletes who compete in Olympic sports are already from very poor families. I haven’t heard of such a policy anywhere else in the world. After knowing this policy the athlete will compete with stress mind like this,” he said.

About the author

Abhishek Lohia

Abhishek Lohia was a Sports and Political Writer working for Newsfolo and is no longer associated with the organization.

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