INDEFINITE DHARNA IN FRONT OF DR. M.S. GILL'S RESIDENCE TUESDAY, 10TH AUGUST AT 12, MOTHER TERESA ROAD TIME: 11 A.M.
DISABLED ATHLETES AND ACTIVISTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY WILL PROTEST AGAINST THE BLATANT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST DISABLED SPORTSPERSONS Frustrated and angry with the continued apathy of the Sports Minister towards disability sports, hundreds of disabled athletes and activists from all over India will gather in Delhi tomorrow. Under the banner of Disabled Rights Group (DRG), the disabled athletes and activists will GHERAO the residence of Dr. MS Gill. Address: 12, Mother Teresa Road. Date: Tuesday, 10th August (tomorrow). Time: 11 am sharp. After taking over the venue, the disabled athletes and activists will begin an INDEFINITE DHARNA outside Sports Minister, Dr. Gill's residence. If Dr. Gill or his babus call the police, we will NOT move on our own or offer court arrest. If Dr. Gill or the police want us to be moved, the only way they can do it is either by listening to us and fulfilling our demands OR by using force on us. "We have written enough letters to Dr. Gill. The guy is least bothered. Disability sports are not on his radar screen! He has left it to his Babus and they are all hands in gloves with PCI, the extremely corrupt sports federation," said Javed Abidi, Convenor, DRG. The demands being raised are as follows: (1) Why was ARJUNA AWARD denied to Prashant Karmakar when he is clearly a better disabled athlete than Jagseer Singh? (2) Why was DRONACHARYA AWARD not given to Ramesh Tikaram, Coach for Badminton and Athletics and himself a disabled person? (3) Recently 6 sportspersons were appointed as BRAND AMBASSADORS for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. How come no disabled athlete was selected? For those who may not know, disability sports are now an integral part of the Commonwealth Games (since Melbourne 2006). When the Games take place in October, as many as 45 medals will be at stake under disability sports. Medals won or lost will impact the Nation's Medal Tally! So, Dr. Gill can afford to neglect disability sports because of his ignorance or bias, but the Nation can't! (4) Why is proper Coaching not being provided to our elite disabled athletes like Prashant Karmakar in Swimming and Farman Basha in Power Lifting who really are our only two medal hopes in the upcoming Commonwealth Games? Same is the neglect towards our Table Tennis players and Athletes. (5) What happened to the more than Rs. 13 crores that was earmarked for disability sports vis a vis Commonwealth Games? Where has all the money gone? Please lend your voice to this cause. We need all the support that we can get. With best regards, Dorodi Sharma Programme Manager National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) A -77, South Extension Part II New Delhi - 110 049, India Tel.: 91-11-26265647 / 26265648 Telefax:011-26265649 Websites: www.ncpedp.org and www.dnis.org Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
