New Delhi: As per Delhi government sources, Divya Kakran, who recently won the bronze medal in Commonwealth Games in England, represented Delhi till 2017 only. The sources further clarified that only players applying for cash benefits received help from the state government and further claimed that
Divya never applied for such benefits. Moreover, sources also claimed that post 2017, Divya started to represent Uttar Pradesh in wrestling and even the Wrestling Federation backs this claim.
Responding to AAP legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj's tweets on the issue a couple of days back, Divya Kakran claimed that she represented Delhi from the year 2011 to 2017. Government documents suggest that out of these seven years, Divya received cash incentives for five years of Rs 5,000 in 2010-11, Rs 10,000 in 2012-13, Rs 1,00,000 in 2013-14, Rs 42,000 in 2014-15 and again Rs 42,000 in 2016-17.
A press note from the Office of Deputy Directorate of Education (Sports) said, "Wrestling Federation of India has confirmed that since the year 2017 Divya Kakran has been representing Uttar Pradesh. Therefore she is not covered under various rewards and schemes of the Delhi government as these schemes are meant for the players who represent Delhi. Further, the Govt of Delhi respects and honors each and every player of the country. The Directorate of Sports will be happy to support Divya Kakran also in case she applies for financial assistance as per procedure, as the Directorate is already funding thousands of players every year under its various schemes."
On the contrary, the Delhi government also maintains a data set of all the players who have received support and aid from the government because of their performance on state, national and international levels. The sportspersons, who represent Delhi are being awarded under various schemes i.e. Mission Excellence, Play and Progress and Cash Incentive to the sportspersons. As per government records, more than 15,000 sportspeople
benefited from the state government's cash incentive program between 2015-20 and since 2015, the Delhi government has spent almost Rs 90 crore on players as incentives and rewards.
The Govt of Delhi has not only provided financial assistance to the outstanding players but Ravi Kumar, Silver Medalist of Tokyo Olympic-2020 and Sharad Kumar, Bronze
Medalist of Tokyo Paralympic-2020 have also been appointed as Asstt. Director in the Directorate of Education and Sports.