In a heartbreaking incident, a female athlete in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district has been forced to sell vegetables on the streets in order to make her ends meet amid the coronavirus enforced financial crisis.
Notably, athlete Geeta Kumari, who has as many as eight medals at the state-level walking competitions to her credit, has been selling vegetables owing to financial crunch.
A video of the plight she has had to face was shared by social activist Yogita Bhayana on her Twitter handle which has caught the attention of Chief Minister (CM) Hemant Soren’s attention.
In the video, Geeta could be seen saying: “I have won gold medals in all state-level championships held between 2011 and 2019. Besides I have six medals in East Zone and two medals in junior national championships.”
“My financial situation has been bad since starting. Since lockdown however, the problems have increased for me and my family. That’s why, I have to sell vegetables at my parents’ shop here to make my family’s ends meet.”
“The Jharkhand government has not helped me ever and since lockdown, our condition has gone from bad to worse,” she added.
झारखंड की यह गोल्डन गर्ल गीता कुमारी हमारी शान हैं.आज जरूरत हैं हम सब को इस शान के सर को उच्चा करने का,उसे मदद करने का,आज ये सड़क पर सब्जी की दुकान लगा रही हैं. @HemantSorenJMM जी और @KirenRijiju जी से निवेदन है कि इनकी मदद करे।क्या पता कल ये हमारी नई ओलंपिक मेडलिस्ट हो.🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/3r3d9zCXBu
— Yogita Bhayana (@yogitabhayana) June 26, 2020
Jharkhand CM Soren, later on, ordered Ramgarh Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Singh to assist Geeta financially so that she could get back to her athletics career.
Geeta has reportedly been provided with financial assistance of Rs 50,000 from the district administration in addition to the monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 to pursue her athletics career.