Demanding the State Sports Minister Arvind Pandey be sacked from the Cabinet for refusing to substantiate his harassment charges involving the sportswomen of the State, a delegation of the opposition Congress leaders met the Governor Krishan Kant Paul at Raj Bhawan on Saturday. They also apprised the Governor of the people’s anger over the State Government’s move to expand the jurisdictional limits of the civic bodies arbitrarily.
The delegation led by the state Congress chief Pritam Singh termed the recent statement of Pandey in which he had claimed that the some officials of sports associations in the State are involved in sexual exploitation of the women athletes as highly objectionable and unfortunate.
They said that the wild charges of the Minister would cast somber shadows on the family life of the women sportspersons of the state. Besides, by making such frivolous statements unsubstantiated with evidences, the Minister has cast aspersions on the functioning of the sports associations based in the state, they said, adding that the development would auger ill for the prospects of sports in the state with the possibility of the girls endowed with sporting talents shying away from the fields of sports.
The opposition leaders said that either the minister must immediately act against those who, according to him, are involved in such heinous acts or he must be sacked from the cabinet for airing such outrageous views.
The delegation also alleged that trees standing on Meerut-Kotdwar- Pauri National Highway have been chopped recently at the behest of the president of BJP’s women wing. They said that the orders of Supreme Court (SC) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) are being flouted with impunity with direct involvement of ruling party politicians.
latching onto to the resentment brewing in the people being affected by the state government’s move to expand the jurisdictional limits of the urban local bodies, the Congress leaders told the Governor that the real intention behind the move is to grab the agricultural land in collusion with the land mafia. They said that the State Government must be stopped from moving further on the matter.
The State Government should stress instead on bettering the civic facilities in the urban areas, they said while dubbing the State Government autocratic and insensitive.
Apart from Pritam Singh, those who comprised the delegation included former ministers Dinesh Agarwal, Hira Singh Bisht and Mantri Prasad Naithani, former MlAs Vijay Pal Sajwan and Rajkumar and the state party vice- presidents Surya Kant Dhasmana and Rajendra Bhandari.
