Satara (Maharashtra): In an embarrassment for the Maharashtra government, the family of the late wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, who bagged India’s first individual Olympic bronze medal in 1952 at Helsinki, threatened to auction it off to finance a wrestling academy the state had long promised to fund.
The legendary wrestler’s son, Ranjit KD Jadhav said that it was exactly 65 years ago (July 24), when his father created history for India sports by bagging the first individual Olympic medal in bantamweight segment.
“Since then, it was my father’s dream to set up a full-fledged world-class wrestling academy in our village, Goleshwar (Karad sub-district) in Satara. Despite repeated attempts we have failed,” Ranjit told this agency.
In 2009, the then Maharashtra sports minister announced the government’s plans to set up the academy, but nothing moved till December 2013 when Rs.1.58 crore was earmarked for the construction of the same.
“The matter languishes in cold storage even after sanctioning the amount and now the cost of setting up the academy would be nearly double,” Jadhav informed.
The Goleshwar village panchayat, along with the family has decided to take matters into their own hands, warning that they will auction off the medal to raise finances for the dream academy of the great wrestler.
“We have issued an ultimatum to the state government till August 14 – the 33rd death anniversary of my father, who died aged 58 in 1984. If they fail to clear its promise of the academy, from Independence Day, August 15, the family and villagers will go on a hunger strike,” Ranjit threatened.
On the plans to auction the medal, Ranjit said the main problem before the villagers and the family was ascertaining its true value. “We will hand it over to government officials who must determine its true value, auction it and hand over the entire proceedings to the village,” stated Ranjit.
“I know that the Olympic bronze medal is a national treasure, but the official indifference has forced us to contemplate auctioning it,” he added.
Meanwhile, embarrassed by the auction plans, a government official has assured the Jadhav family that he would personally speak with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the issue and arrange a meeting with the villagers this week to resolve the matter.
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