Punjab’s Para-Olympians, who have brought laurels for the state and the country at national and international levels, on Monday staged a protest outside Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s Sector-2 residence against respective state governments who have paid no attention to their welfare.

Among the protestors was the Badminton World Championship gold medallist and the winner of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award 2017 and State Award 2009 — Sanjeev Kumar.

To support them, members of the National Student Union of India (NSUI), Punjab unit, led by its president Isherpreet Singh Sidhu also joined the protest dharna demanding fulfillment of promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party to the players. The police stopped the protesting Paralympians and the NSUI members and took some of them into preventive custody.

Condemning the high handedness meted out to the protesting para-Olympians, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) senior leader Daljit Singh Cheema said that it was shameful that Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Heyar had failed to come out with a sports policy for Para-Olympians besides providing jobs to them as promised. Cheema said that the callous attitude of the AAP Government had forced the players to throw their medals on the road.

“The seriousness of AAP Government towards Para Players could be discerned from the fact that it had not held the State Para Games as scheduled. Even now, the players had come to Chandigarh because they had been given time by the AAP government. It is condemnable that instead of listening to their grievances and resolving them, AAP Government has chosen to suppress their demands through highhanded means,” said Cheema.

At the same time, Cheema assured full support to the Para Players saying that in case their demands were not met, SAD would take up their case forcefully and ensure justice was done to them.