Anurag Thakur assures strict action after women kabaddi players served food near urinal

A shocking video showing state-level women kabaddi players being served food near urinal at a sports stadium in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur has surfaced on social media. The viral clip has raised alarm bells amid questions being raised over the mistreatment of India's sporting heroes. 

Meanwhile, the Union Minister for I&B and Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur broke his silence on the matter and has assured stringent action against the accused officers and organisers at the Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur. 

Speaking in an interview with news agency ANI, Thakur promised strict action against the contractor and other officers involved. Earlier today, sources confirmed to Republic Media Network that the district sports officer Animesh Saxena has been suspended with immediate effect, who previously had denied allegations.  

'Directed that the contractor be blacklisted': Anurag Thakur

“I've directed strict action against the accused contractor and officers. I have also directed that the contractor be blacklisted for the future”, he said. 

Thakur also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his comments, stressing on how sports facilities have improved massively under his reign.

Apathy, mistreatment, neglect: Is this how we treat our players?

Sources told Republic Media Network that as many as 300 female players have gathered to participate in the three-day tournament, which kickstarted on September 16. As the issue was brought to light, Olympic medal-winning Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt spoke with Republic Media Network in an exclusive interview and shed his thoughts on the shocking incident. The veteran wrestler maintained that athletes should be given the utmost facilities, whether be it food or accommodation, stressing that 'respect is the right of every athlete and citizen'. 
 
“This is the responsibility of the tournament organisers and according to me, they are the ones guilty. Strict action needs to be taken against them so that it won't happen again ever. This is a very unfortunate incident, especially seeing girls eating in a toilet. In India, there is a problem, despite such incidents keep repeating, no strict action is ever taken by the concerned authorities,” Dutt told Republic TV.