Madhya Pradesh minister ‘regrets’ inconvenience to P.T. Usha

BHOPAL - Madhya Pradesh Sports Minister Tukoji Rao Pawar Tuesday “regretted” that P.T. Usha was not provided separate accommodation and blamed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the lapse and the apparent insult to the sprint queen.

“The unfortunate incident took place because the state government had no information about her programme as the SAI was supposed to make all arrangements for her visit. I regret the same,” Pawar told IANS over phone.

“Had SAI or P.T. Usha informed us, I would have seen to it that she gets the status of a state guest as per her stature. As soon as we came to know of the mess up, our minister met her and shifted her to the posh Jehannuma Hotel in the city,” he said.

“I have spoken to her and she said she was now comfortable in her new accommodation,” Pawar added.

On the other hand, union Sports Minister M.S. Gill earlier in the day absolved the SAI of any wrong-doing.

“I was surprised Usha blamed SAI for the episode because the event was hosted by the state government,” Gill said.

“The SAI Centre, in any case, offered her accommodation, the best they had to offer, and gave a car to transport her. I’m not clear why she had to suddenly talk of the SAI centre,” Gill told reporters.

The Madhya Pradesh government earlier in the day ordered a probe into the shabby treatment meted out to the sprint queen at the 9th National Open Athletics Championships, though the organisers said that she was not on the official list of invitees.

Usha, who finished in fourth place in the 400 metres race at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Monday alleged that no one received her and her students at the airport and when she reached the SAI Centre on her own, she was asked to share a room with five others.

“Most of the officers were busy welcoming Sports Minister M.S. Gill,” the ace runner told reporters at India Coffee House.

She broke down before the reporters saying: “When I asked for better accommodation, the officials refused, saying that I need to share my room with other athletes.”

“The centre has my framed photograph in the hostel but when I reached there, no one even cared to at least provide me a separate accommodation. Had my husband not booked a room for me in the Coffee House, I would have wandered on the city’s streets searching for accommodation,” Usha said.

The star athlete said she was also told to wait till 2.30 p.m. as a function chaired by Gill was under way at the SAI Centre.

“I waited in the rain, hiding myself under an umbrella at the SAI Centre and finally reached the Coffee House at 2 p.m. and had food as I was hungry,” Usha said.

Mumtaz Khan, secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Athletics Association, told IANS that Usha and her students were not on the official list of visitors for the championships that got under way Tuesday.

News of her arrival came at the last moment and even then a person was sent to receive her, he added.

Khan also claimed that though Usha’s demands for stay and other facilities could not be instantly met, “we later reached the Coffee House and requested her to shift to the hotel where a room was exclusively booked for her but she refused”.

Usha, however, shifted to the hotel Tuesday after the State Industries Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya requested her.