This story is from September 4, 2016

Rower's death: PU to insure lives of 900 sportspersons

Rower's death: PU to insure lives of 900 sportspersons
A block of Panjab University in Chandigarh. Of the five Indian institutions in top 400, three are new entrants which include Punjab University, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur.photo by Ritam Thakur)
CHANDIGARH: A day after the death of Panjab University (PU) rower Raj Shikha Malik at a training camp in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, the university on Saturday speeded up efforts to insure the lives of about 900 sportspersons representing it in the upcoming inter-university competition through national insurance companies on Saturday. PU sports director Parminder Singh told TOI, "Though the matter to insure the players was discussed in the meeting of executives on August 1, we have speeded up the efforts after the sudden death of Malik.
We have approached two to three companies with the proposal."
Sources said the insurance cover would be on the number of players instead of their names as it depends whether they would be selected or not. A senior sports faculty member said it would be instant insurance cover because selection of players would depend on their performance. "We cannot select anyone without holding trials," he said.
Malik, 19, a resident of Sector 46, was a second-year student of BCom in Government College for Girls (GCG), Sector 11, and drowned while canoeing at Roorkee in Uttarakhand on September 2. The college management and sports department of PU has been at loggerhead over the death of the national-level player. College principal Anita Kaushal has said the girl was not sent to the training camp from the college and it had not received any permission from the player to attend the camp. Kaushal told TOI, "Neither Malik had sought any permission from the college nor we gave her any. The camp was around two months long. We do not allow any student to attend such long training camps." However, PU sports director said, "Malik was a member of the university team. We had intimated the college authorities about her selection in the camp and college had given its consent."
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About the Author
Saurabh Prashar

Saurabh Prashar is best known among colleagues as the ‘crime man’. He covers crime in Chandigarh and rest of Punjab, besides stories involving the CBI. The Ruchika-Rathore case was one of the most important stories that he’s been following up closely.

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