After wait for months, Maharashtra akhara gets its pending stipend

Accommodation in the Akhara.

After waiting for months for the stipend payment for its trainees from the Sports Authority of India — as reported by Newsline on August 25 — the Alandi-based wrestling centre for girls, Jog Maharaj Vyayamshala, finally received the funds last week. “Although we were waiting for the stipend amount from December 2015 to July 2016, the amount was disbursed only for four months — April to July 2016. For the remaining months, the amount couldn’t be disbursed because the required documents from our side were not complete,” said Dinesh Gund, founder and coach of the centre, adding that they have received Rs 72,000 in total.

It was last year in October that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had adopted the Jog Maharaj Vyayamshala and four other “akharas” based in Gurmandi (Delhi), Shahbad Daulatapur (Delhi), Hisar (Haryana) and Alipur (Delhi). Under the scheme, the adopted “akharas” were entitled to one set of wrestling mats and a gymnasium. In addition, the trainees of the “akharas” were sanctioned an amount of Rs 3,000 per trainee per year for competition exposure, Rs 3,000 for sports per trainee per year and a stipend of Rs 1,000 per month per trainee to supplement their diet charges. Though the JMV “akhara” was provided the wrestling mat as well the gymnasium the same year from SAI, it is yet to receive the amount attributed to the stipend and sports kit.

Shailendra Kumar, assistant director, SAI, “The amount couldn’t be disbursed to the centre (Jog Maharaj Vyayamshala) because the documents submitted by them were not as per the requirement. The financial year closes in March and hence we could not process the amount for the months December, 2015, to March, 2016. Though as per the rules, the amount has been returned back to SAI (Delhi), we will try to get special permission from SAI if we can again issue the remaining amount to Jog Maharaj Vyayamshala.”

Meanwhile, the centre has recently written SAI requesting it to appoint a well-qualified coach to train the female wrestlers at the centre. “As of now, only I am available to train them. I also work as the wrestling umpire and sometimes need to travel to different cities for wrestling tournaments. During such times, training of the girls suffers. We urgently need an assistant coach. Now that the centre has been chosen to produce talent in women wrestling, the appointment process should be done soon,” said Gund.