Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday suspended a Regional Sports Officer with immediate effect after a video of players served food inside a key state sports stadium toilet went viral on social media, a senior officer said here.
RSO Animesh Saxena was suspended after the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Sports Stadium incident.
Additional Chief Secretary Sports Navneet Sehgal said that an inquiry has been handed over to the District Magistrate Saharanpur.
District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh said that a three-day sub-junior girls Kabaddi tournament was organised in Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Sports Stadium from 16 September.
"On the first day the rice served with the food in the lunch to 300 players was of poor quality and half cooked. Due to this the organisers hid the plates of rice and pooris inside the toilet," Singh said.
Sehgal said: "It has been directed that the contractor, who was given the contract of preparing and providing the food to the players should be blacklisted.
"And it has been warned that he should not be given any work in the future," he said.
Sehgal said that the Sports Director has been asked to give adverse entry to the subordinates of the RSO, who were entrusted with the task of serving food during the event.
"All the RSOs have been warned that any negligence in providing facilities to the players will not be tolerated," he said.
The move comes after a video of female players being served food inside a toilet went viral on social media.
In the purported video the players could be seen taking food from the vessels kept inside a men's toilet.
The District Magistrate said that when inquired RSO Animesh Saxena claimed that the dinner was supposed to start at 2 pm and that all the players reached the venue at once which led to mismanagement.
"He admitted that the quality of rice was poor and chapatis fell short. There were only two cooks available to prepare the meal," he said.
Teams from 17 divisions and a hostel were participating in the event and arrangements of lodging and food were made inside the stadium itself. (UNI)
