HYDERABAD: Archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam, a bronze medallist at the recently-held World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai, has announced that she will begin an indefinite hunger-strike at her home in Vijayawada from Monday, after alleging discrepancies in payment of Rs 1 crore that was supposedly promised to her by the Andhra Pradesh government last August.
The confusion arose from a government order that says the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) has asked the state government to release Rs 76,53,000 to pay Rs 61,53,000 and Rs 15,00,000 to Jyothi and her ‘coach’ CH Satyanarayana respectively, in order to keep the Rs 1 crore promise. In the letter, it is specified that Rs 23.47 lakh has already been released as a quantum of the promised amount. Hence, around Rs 76 lakh remains to be paid.
The archer, however, has alleged that Satyanarayana is not even her coach. “I was promised three things by the AP government on August 31, 2017; Rs 1 crore, a house site in Vijayawada and a government job. None of the above have been delivered till date. And to add to that a portion of the money has now been diverted to a person who has never even coached me,” Jyothi told Express from Vijayawada.
“I waited for a response from anyone in the government or SAAP till late on Sunday, but no one bothered to call me. Now, I have decided to begin a hunger strike until justice is delivered,” the 21-year-old revealed.
Jyothi says that the Rs 23.47 lakh mentioned in the letter cannot be called as a quantum of the Rs 1 crore. “That amount was promised to me back in April last year. It was for the medals I had won at the nationals.“It has nothing to do with the Rs 1 crore that I was promised much later (in August). I got the amount sometime in November. Maybe, that is why they are trying to pass it off as a quantum of Rs 1 crore. How can the SAAP officials do this to me?” the archer signed off.