Suresh Prabhu orders probe in para-athlete plight

New Delhi: A day after international polio-afflicted para-athlete Suvarna Raj was was forced to sleep on the floor of the Delhi-Nagpur-bound Gareeb Rath train, railway minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted that he had ordered an inquiry into the case. Other media reports also said that Mr Prabhu had offered to meet her and discuss the issue with her. Ms Raj has, however, said that she is looking for a permanent solution to the problem.  

On Saturday night, Ms Raj’s pleas to change her seat from upper birth to the lower, fell on deaf ears of the TTE.

“The least I had expected was a little respect but the ticket collector was adamant and brushed off my pleas for a lower birth owing to the disability. I was told that I had to manage with whatever seat I had been allotted, as the coach was full,” Ms Raj said.

Also, when Ms Raj asked for blankets, she was allegedly denied that as well.

She said, “After paying the full fare, highlighting that I am 90 per cent disabled and a wheel chair bound passenger, I had to undergo the harassment. When I asked for a blanket, the attendant told me that they have run out of blankets and I have to manage without any as the compartment had a fixed number of blankets, and all had been distributed.” Coming out in support of Ms Raj, para-athlete Shweta Sharma said that travelling with disability was a herculean task. “People who are wheelchair-bound have to face a lot of hardships. Travelling in a metro doesn’t come easy for us.”

Ms Raj had won two medals at the Thailand Para Table Tennis Open 2013 and participated in the Asian Para Games in South Korea. She runs an NGO for the differently-abled and had recently fought the Delhi civic polls from north Delhi’s Begumpur on a Swaraj India ticket.