Dutee disputes Odisha govt’s claims of financial support

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jul 16, 2020 at 4:10 PM Updated On : Jul 16, 2020 at 9:53 PM

Bhubaneswar: Following queries from different quarters regarding financial support given to the ace sprinter by Odisha Government, the Department of Sports and Youth Services today shared a list highlighting all support given to the athlete. In her reaction, however, the ace athlete said the claims of the State government of providing her financial aid is not true.

The department informed that Rs 4.09 crore has been spent by the Government fortraining of the sprinter in the last five years.

Here’re details of the financial support given to Dutee over the years for her training and other related expenses and financial incentives.

1. Rs 3 crore as financial incentive for medals won at Asian Games 2018.

2. Rs 30 Lakh for training and financial support during 2015-19.

3. Rs 50 Lakhs for training support for Tokyo Olympics (Released In two installments on August 2, 2019 and December 27 2019).

4. The State Government appointed Dutee Chand as Group-A level officer in Odisha Mining Corporation. She is currently drawing Gross salary of Rs 84,604 (June 2020 Salary) per month. She is not required to come to office so that she is able to concentrate full-time on training. Since her appointment in OMC, no official work has been allotted to her.

5. OMC provided Rs 29 Lakhs to Ms. Dutee Chand for Training and financial incentives.

6. The total financial support provided to Dutee Chand from state Government/OMC is Rs 4.09 crores (after 2015).

7. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) may also be providing adequate support for the athlete based on performance.

Dutee said that she was not “sitting idle at home” and was bringing medals for the country and making her employers proud.

“When I won medals, I think I was doing something for my employers also. I am making them proud. I was not sitting idle at home, it is not that I have stopped winning medals. Instead of using pen and paper at the office, I was toiling at the training ground and stadia.”

She said she is no longer selling her car as the KIIT founder and Member of Parliament Achyuta Samanta has assured her financial support for her training.

“I have been offered financial support by even Union Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) and Sports Minister (Kiren Rijiju). They called me a few days back but I have politely told them I will approach them when it is needed.”

Worth mentioning, Dutee had recently shared a post on Facebook saying that she has put her car on sale as she needed funds to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics next year. However, she later deleted the post after her post made headlines across the country.

On Wednesday, she said her decision to sell her car has got nothing to do with her lacking funds for training. She decided to sell the vehicle to get some ‘breathing space’ and not burden the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) or the Odisha Government.

(With agency inputs)

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