BHUBANESWAR 24-May-2018
Odisha Olympian Dutee Chand is back in news, once again for an off-the-track issue. The fastest woman of the country took to social media to express her dissatisfaction for not getting a residential plot in the capital city of Bhubaneswar as recommended by the Sports & Youth Services Department, Govt of Odisha two years back.
``Our State Government is not keeping its words of allotting residential plots to Olympians in Bhubaneswar. Two years have passed, but we are yet to get it. How long the wait will continue?,’’ asked Dutee in her post in Facebook two days ago.
According to the post, the Sports Department in its letter to General Administration Department, dated 11th May, 2016, had recommended names of five outstanding sportspersons for allotment of residential plot in Bhubaneswar. The five names included Dutee Chand, Purnima Hembram, Jauna Murmu, Amiya Kumar Mallick and Srabani Nanda.
But the recommendation remained in the file even through all the five sportspersons represented India in the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar last year, and Dutee and Srabani participated in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
This was the second time within a month that Dutee took to social media to give vent to her annoyance on different issues. Earlier, the sprint ace raised question on the parameters of VIP status after she was denied permission to keep her car in the VIP parking area near Jagannath Temple in Puri.
``If someone who has represented the nation in the Olympic Games is not a VIP, then what should one do to become a VIP?,’’ Dutee had asked in her Facebook post.
