Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Tribal athletes lodged in a government hostel for a national training camp lack nutritious food. It has come to light when a video clip in which the athletes are seen complaining about absence of nutritious food went viral on social media.
These athletes from all over Madhya Pradesh are in the city for a training camp to participate in the Eklavya Adarsh Awasiya Vidyalaya’s upcoming All-India Sports Competition, which will be held in Andhra Pradesh from December 17 to 22.
An athlete told our reporter, "We are not getting enough protein here and it is vital for our training programme. All we get here in the name of vegetables is potato. We have been here for the last eight days and we hardly get any fruit. Most of the time, they say that we ran out of food."
Another athlete said, "We only get half-a-glass of milk, sometimes even less than half. We don’t even get one apple; they slice it and give a few slices to us. We practise really hard and we are not even getting proper nutritious food here. It is frustrating and disturbing."
A wrestler said, "A good diet is very important for us, we hardly get eggs. Even if they supply us, it is not more than one. Most of the time, we found shortage of food. Potatoes are found in every curry. Even when they prepared spinach for us, it is like 80-20 ratio of potatoes and spinach."
He added that there is no fixed diet chart at the training centre. They give us food in very less quantity. The coaches told the Free Press, "Some officials came in the morning and when we told them about these issues, they threatened to fire us if we lodge protests."
Denying all allegations regarding shortage of food, the MP tribal welfare department in-charge sports officer GS Sahu said, "Coaches are instigating the athletes to say all these things, because we did not allow them to go with them for the national tournament. We visited the hostel and had a meeting with athletes and coaches. We will make sure that they get proper food like a full glass of milk, eggs, and fruits."
The official also mentioned that anyone who wants to inspect food here can come anytime without notice. We make sure that everything is up to the mark.
