Malick Asghar Hashmi / New Delhi

Para swimmer Mohammad Shams Alam, who won two gold and one silver medal in the recently concluded 22nd National Para Swimming Championship in Guwahati, is leading the fight against the specially-abled players outside the arena.

In life, Shams Alam says unfortunately he and other para-players are faced with discrimination and indifference from the government authorities in his home state of Bihar. He hails from the Madhubani district. He says the current government led by Nitish Kumar neither shows respect nor offers facilities to the para players in comparison with others.

The discrimination is practiced even in the amount of the prize money awarded by the State government to them and he has been pointing out this since 2019.

That year Shams Alam wrote a letter to the then Chief Secretary of Bihar, Amir Subhani, complaining about the neglect of para-players.

Subhani continues to hold the same powerful position and yet he has not responded to it.

Shams says that he and co-player Arjana Kumari were given only Rs 50,000 as an incentive by the Bihar government for winning medals in the Asian Games in 2019. The same government had awarded two lakh rupees to international para-player Sharda Kumar two years ago.

Shams Alam says that the rulebook has it that Rs 2 lakh incentive will be given to the international players from the State and yet for some unexplained reasons the amount has been quartered.

He has asked the government to implement the rule in letter and spirit and treat all sportspersons justly.

Shams has submitted a seven-point proposal to the Bihar government for boosting the morale of the sportspersons and extending them financial help. He proposed these in an important meeting called to formulate the State’s sports policy held at Patna on 19 February 2021.

The key proposal is to implement the center’s policy of treating para players at par with others in extending training facilities and also providing equal prize money to them. He asked the government to start training special children studying in school for para sports.

Another point he made was the appointment of professional para coaches, a 3% reservation for para players in jobs. In the meeting, he also pointed out that Bihar must follow states like Maharashtra, Haryana, and Rajasthan and organize Khelo India Youth Games at the district level and provide equipment fitted with sensors to the para players.

The meeting has not yielded results so far, he said.

Shams Alam told Awaz-the Voice that Bihar is not the only state where para players face problems; players like him face a different set of problems in different states.

In many states, para players are not given importance and there is no uniform policy towards them in the country. There are no opportunities for the Para players to get sponsorship.

Barring the Sports Authority of India's stadium in Delhi, there is no professional coach for para players in the states. When Indian players are doing better at the international level, then becomes important for them to have professional coaches, he said.

Shams says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives importance to para players, but the state governments will follow his thinking too. He also says that even the media pays scant attention to their achievements.

“Whenever a para sportsperson performs well in Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister, Ministers, and officers of that place encourage him by appreciating and congratulating him on social media, while the governments of other states including Bihar do not do so,” he said.

However, Shams is optimistic that conditions will change for para-athletes. Nevertheless, he says, he will keep his fight for the rights of para players going on.

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