Internet Desk: On the day when the trailer of Aamir Khan-starrer “Dangal” is released, the wrestler on whom the picture is made i.e., Geeta Phogat got rewarded with the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police by the Haryana Cabinet on Thursday. The news of Geeta’s appointment comes after a long wait of six years by her family.
Geeta was promised a post in the Haryana Police by the Government after she won gold in the women’s 55 kg category wrestling event at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010. But it has taken six years to get the coveted post.
This week, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar met his cabinet colleagues and finally approved Geeta’s appointment as a DSP. But the wait for the reward made the star wrestler frustrated over the years. “Humein aadat ho gayi thi wait karne ki. Sab khush hain par jitni khushi honi chahiye thi, utni nahin hai (We got used to waiting. Everyone is happy but we are not as happy as we should have been),” Geeta told the Indian Express.
“While other players were appointed (as DSP) on winning gold in the same event, we were denied this for six long years.”
The Haryana government had announced in March 2005 that players with major sports appointments from the state would be rewarded with posts in the Haryana police. The likes of boxers Vikas Krishan and Paramjit Samota were appointed as DSPs without delay, unlike Geeta, who had to keep waiting.
“It was always on my mind that I had been denied the post that I deserved according to the state policy,” she continued. “I kept approaching the state government. Earlier this year, I decided to approach the High Court and sought directions to the state government.”
Geeta is the daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat and her sisters include Rio 2016 Olympics participants Vinesh Phogat and Babita Kumari.
The 27-year-old from Bhiwani, whose life will be portrayed in the movie Dangal, was the first woman wrestler from the country to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.