Chandigarh: How many of you have heard of Vinay Kumar Lal? To bring to your cognizance, Lal did the country proud by bagging a bronze at the Asian Para Games 2018 in 400 m, T44/T62/64 event, but such is the apathy of the authorities that his efforts have gone unnoticed forcing him to ‘balance between a call centre and taxi.’
“I took up call centre job after my father’s demise. Family responsibilities are on my shoulders now. Currently, I’m preparing for Asian Youth Para Games for which I juggle between call center and taxi driver’s job. Due to a tough schedule I get to sleep for 2-3 hours,” Lal told ANI.
Lal’s innumerable visits to government offices have yielded no result. “Since 2018, I have been visiting Chandigarh Sports Council office for rewards but to no avail,” Lal added.
If you thought plethora of cash rewards for our global champions including our medal-winning para athletes at the Tokyo games, signifies the magnanimity of our union and state governments, then sit back and take a note of Lal’s plight, and he isn’t the only one overlooked.
