Dear Friends, Please find below an E-mail Disabled Rights Group (DRG) has sent to the Sports Minister Dr. M.S. Gill.
We urge all of you to please go through the letter. We understand there are so many issues that the sector is handling at the moment. But if we do not raise our voice against this discrimination and corruption NOW, we will be doing gross injustice not only to the disabled athletes, but also to the entire movement. Please write to the Sports Minister and his bureaucrats. E-mail them if you want. It will take just 5 minutes of your time but will be a huge support for our efforts and the cause. E-mail ids are: Dr. M.S. Gill: [email protected] PS to Minister: [email protected] Joint Secy., Sports: [email protected] Joint Secy., International Sports: [email protected] If you would want to write to Dr. Gill, his address is: Dr. M.S. Gill Hon'ble Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Room No: 409, C Wing Shastri Bhawan New Delhi - 110001 You may also want to read the following story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/others/Paralympic-swimmers-run-for-sanction/articleshow/6267858.cms http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnabangalore/epaperpdf/04082010/3bangalore%20main%20edition-pg19-0.pdf With best regards, Dorodi Sharma Programme Manager National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) A -77, South Extension Part II New Delhi - 110 049, India Tel.: 91-11-26265647 / 26265648 Telefax:011-26265649 Websites: www.ncpedp.org and www.dnis.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Secretariat - NCPEDP To: [email protected] Cc: Debjyoti Das ; [email protected] ; isrinivas ; [email protected] , Secretariat - NCPEDP Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 7:46 PM Subject: URGENT: REGARDING PARA SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Dear Dr. Gill, We are writing to you yet again on the issue of disability sports. This time around it is about the IPC Swimming World Championship to be held in Netherlands from August 15th till 21st. Here are some facts: 1: This is the first time that the Indian paralympic swimmers have qualified for the World Championships. This is one of the most important international sporting event and performances at this event affect international rankings of our disabled athletes. The performance at the World Championships will also impact the probability of our swimmers either qualifying or not for the London Paralympics 2012. 2: Also, this is the LAST and ONLY international exposure that these disabled swimmers would get before the upcoming Commonwealth Games. 3: The team is supposed to go on the 12th in order for them to arrive in Netherlands on 13th August. Today is already the 6th of August. Less than a week remains and till today, the players have not been told if they'll be able to go or not. Neither have their funds been sanctioned nor their visas arranged. 4: Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) once again has washed its hands off the matter. When asked, they say that they have submitted the proposal to the Sports Ministry and have not heard from them. They are also now saying that if the swimmers want to participate in the World Championships, they will have to fund the tour themselves!! 5: Only four disabled swimmers have qualified for the World Championship. They are currently undergoing coaching, on their own, at their own expense, as shown in the following table: PLAYER COACH LOCATION 1: Binod Kumar Singh Ashok Pal Kolkata, West Bengal 2: Prasanta Karmakar Nihar Ameen Bengaluru, Karnataka 3: Raghavendra Anavekar Umesh K. Belgaum, Karnataka 4: Sharath Gayakwad John Christopher Bengaluru, Karnataka It is but obvious that NONE of these four players are training with, or for that matter would want to train with, Dr. V.K. Dabas. Then why is Dabas's name being proposed by PCI as coach for this prestigious championship??!! And even if PCI has sent such a proposal, why is it even being considered by Rahul Bhatnagar/your Ministry??? 6: C.V. Raghunath, who is the Administrator of PCI has been proposed as the 'Team Leader'!!! Raghunath is neither disabled, nor a swimmer, nor does he have anything to do with swimming!!! Then, on what basis was he appointed as the 'Team Leader'??? Please ask this question to both, PCI as well as the officials of your Ministry who patronize them. OUR DEMANDS: 1: Remove the dubious Dr. V.K. Dabas from the Paralympic Swimming Federation of India. 2: Remove him as the so-called 'Coach' of the Indian para swimming team for both, the World Championships in Netherlands as well as, the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. 3: Replace him with a swimming coach of repute who the players trust and who can actually coach them for international events where our Nation's prestige is at stake. 4: As far as the World Championships are concerned, a reputed coach should be sent along with the team or for that matter, the four swimmers can just go on their own. Under no circumstances, should Dabas and Raghunath be allowed to go with the team. It is high time the Sports Ministry puts a stop to foreign tours of corrupt PCI officials at the expense of the public exchequer. With kind regards, Javed Abidi Convenor, Disabled Rights Group 6.8.2010 Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
