Shuttlers protest fee hike, dictatorial attitude at Parade Ground Badminton Hall

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE / Dehradun

Shuttlers and the State-level badminton players staged a protest at the Parade Ground Multi-Purpose Hall (Badminton Hall) on Tuesday against the Uttarakhand Sports Directorate’s functioning.

The protesters said that a large number of retired senior citizens visit the hall regularly for health reasons. They expressed concern over increasing the one-time fee of the hall for the members from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. Even, the protesters alleged that on September 14 they were forcibly prevented from playing in the hall and Rs 2,500 was collected from them. They said

and misbehaving with senior players is highly condemnable.

They claimed that administration officials did not respect even senior and international-level players and collected the amount in an authoritarian manner.

The players questioned the government’s ‘Sports For All’ slogan and said common people and elderly will not be able to play with such high fees.

The players alleged that considering inflation the hike should have been a maximum of 10 per cent and claimed that there is a conspiracy to commercialise sports on the lines of education and medical sectors.

They urged the chief minister to remove anti-sports officials who disrespect sports and sportspersons and ensure compliance with the Prime Minister’s sports-related directives. They warned that said demonstration was only symbolic and if the fee hike is not reversed it will be turned into an indefinite stir involving other departments and sports associations.

Notably Dr KP Joshi, international players SK Patel, SS Pundir, Punita Nagia and a large number of senior State-level players and sports enthusiasts participated in the protest.