I am sorry, said Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to the para athletes of various disciplines, who were manhandled by the Punjab police during their protest dharna near his official residence demanding jobs from the State Government.
Talking to the protesting para athletes after the incident over a video call, the Chief Minister assured them of bringing the policy in the next Cabinet meeting to resolve their grievances.
Capt Amarinder told the para athletes that he has asked the Sports Department to bring a policy before the Council of Ministers for providing employment to para sportspersons who have brought laurels to the State and the country, and Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi has proposed to bring this agenda.
Having won accolades in the national and international events, the protesting sports persons declared that they wanted to return the awards given by the state as a mark of protest.
To stop them, the police had put up barricades on the road leading to the Chief Minister's house. The protesting para-athletes were joined by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers, and slogans were raised against the Congress-led State Government.
The police evicted them from the protest site, manhandling, even dragging some, and later detained them briefly.
Talking to the media, para-athlete Sanjeev Kumar said that they were not given jobs by the state government despite assurances. “I have won many medals and awards, including the Punjab government's prestigious Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award,” said Kumar.
Another para-athlete, Veena Arora of Amritsar, also asked the Punjab Government to provide jobs to them.
Taking a dig at the government, the protesters said that if it could offer jobs to the sons of two Congress MLAs on compassionate grounds, then there is no reason why it cannot give jobs to them.
They were referring to the Punjab Cabinet's decision to appoint Qadian MLA Fatehjang Singh Bajwa's son Arjun Partap Singh Bajwa as an inspector in the Punjab Police and Ludhiana MLA Rakesh Pandey's son Bhisham Pandey as a naib tehsildar in the Revenue Department on ''compassionate'' grounds.
AAP legislator Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the special athletes were more qualified and fit for Government jobs than the sons of Congress MLAs and leaders.
The Amarinder Singh-led Congress government made a lot of announcements for sportspersons, but most of them are living in poverty now, he said.
Hayer said that during its tenure, this government had given certificates and honors to various sportspersons in the name of various awards, but had shunned the amount of honour and the job they deserved.
AAP MLA appealed to the State Government to arrange jobs and facilities for the athletes before eyeing for Olympic medals. “The para athletes had also staged a dharna last year to remind the government of the promise of jobs and at that time the Congress state president Sunil Jakhar and advisor to the Chief Minister, Capt Sandhu had promised to provide jobs and award money soon,” he added.