Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha gets emotional during a press conference alleging encroachment on the land of Usha School of Athletics in Kozhikode (Photo | ANI)
CHENNAI: Track legend and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P T Usha on Saturday broke down during a small media briefing in New Delhi while describing the ordeal her Usha School of Athletics in Kinaloor near Kozhikode is going through. Intruders, she said, started some kind of construction in the middle of her academy on Friday.
When the academy’s management confronted them, they misbehaved, she alleged. Usha claimed the workers said construction was being done after taking the Panangad panchayat’s permission. The work stopped after she complained to the police. She appealed to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to address and resolve the issue.
Usha reportedly said that this is not the first time her school and its staff were subjected to harassment. She said drug addicts barge into the academy premises at night too. “We are being targeted continuously,” she said. The Panangad panchayat denied the charges.
“There is a human settlement near the academy and local residents need a road. The proposed road passes through the academy plot. We tried to find a solution, but it went in vain. Right now the panchayat is carrying out pipeline work for providing water to residents under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The academy is opposing it,” panchayat chief V M Kuttikrishnan said.
