| Jammu Lawn Tennis players seek Govt attention, authorities oblivious | | | Nitish Bhardwaj
Early Times Report
jammu, Nov 17: Despite the tall claims of the state government of developing sports infrastructure in Jammu region at par with Kashmir, the players of Lawn Tennis in winter capital continue to bear the brunt of 'discrimination', preferably without basic facilities for the game. According to players, they are being discriminated at all levels, spanning from infrastructure to basic facilities, including coaches.
"One can see the level of discrimination meted out to the Jammu players, especially lawn tennis. We do not have proper playing court, there are no professional coaches available with sports council from past four years, while as players in Kashmir are being provided with proper infrastructure and are being trained under the guidance of professional coaches," said score of players.
They further alleged that earlier Kashmir centric government did discrimination with Jammu players, but this time BJP is also part of the government. "BJP leaders, who claimed to end discrimination with Jammu if voted to power, are now oblivious. They do not care about sports facilities in Jammu," said players, adding "BJP should introspect and work on providing equal facilities in Jammu as well."
Sources within the department said that Kashmir is having "eight layer" synthetic court of lawn tennis which is used in international matches whereas Jammu is having mud court which is filthy and not properly maintained. Players contribute Rs 4000 every month for the maintenance of the court, sources said.
When contacted senior officer, he they said that in Jammu division they are short of staff and the vacant posts are yet to be filled.
"Due to shortage of staff, the court cannot be maintained. The government is also not replacing those who have been retired," officer said, wishing anonymity. |
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