Kozhikode: Winning the National Games and finishing second in the National Championships should have made the Kerala women's basketball team the toast of the state. Instead, left high and dry by the official apathy, they are suffering a nightmarish journey back home from Ludhiana.
"We were scared for our lives yesterday night. We don't know what awaits us tonight," said a senior player of Kerala's women's team, which has five international players. Since Monday 3.30 pm, their sleeper coach has been run over by ticketless passengers, leaving no space for them to even go to the toilet. "Several of our team members are having their periods. When we cut through the crowd and reached the toilet, men were standing even inside the toilets," said the player.
The champion players are suffering a hellish journey back home at a time when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Council of Ministers are touring the state in an air-conditioned bus, with an afternoon power nap thrown into the schedule.
The 12-member team could go to the toilet only when the train reached Bhopal at 9.45 am on Tuesday. The young but seasoned players knew train travel in north India would be miserable in sleeper class. So they wanted to travel in an AC coach. "We booked third AC tickets on a direct train to Thiruvananthapuram with our own money. But the team managers insisted that we should travel together with the men's team and got them sleeper tickets in another train that goes to Mumbai," said another player. "We cancelled our AC tickets and are suffering here," she said.
The 12-member women's team is travelling on SX1, a special sleeper coach next to the unreserved compartments of the 11058 Amritsar-Mumbai CSMT Express. They boarded the train from Ludhiana at 11.40 am on Monday (December 11), a day after finishing runners-up at the 73rd Senior National Basketball Championship.
Their trouble started when the train reached Rajpura Junction at 3.30 pm when ticketless college and school students rushed into their compartment. By the time the train reached Ambala City, the players were trapped in their seats with no space to wriggle. By 8.30 pm, the train reached New Delhi, and even the toilets were occupied.
"Men pushed our legs aside and sat on our berth. Some lay down on the floor between the berths. They started using our charging points and drinking from our water bottles. We could not sleep," said another player.
The players said they shouted at the illegal passengers. "But they shouted back at us and we got really scared," said the player quoted in the first instance.
The illegal passengers said they had passes to travel in sleeper class but passes are not valid after 6 pm.
The players said they called 139, the Railway's customer care number several times. "At big stations, a ticket checker and a police officer would come and deboard the passengers. But they swarmed back as soon as the officials left," she said.
The train is running an hour late and if it catches up, will reach Thane by 11.15 pm on Tuesday (December 12). The women have a 12-hour halt at Thane before catching the next train to Thiruvananthapuram. "We shelled money from our pocket and booked a dormitory there for the stay," said the player.
The basketball players said they wanted to avoid this halt so they booked third-AC tickets for their return trip on Himsagar Express (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra to Kanyakumari) on November 22. "We booked with our own money but the officials made us cancel the ticket and made us travel in a connecting train in sleeper class," said the player quoted in the second instance.
The women said they faced similar inconveniences while going to Ludhiana for the championships.
The players said they booked AC tickets on the Kochuveli-Amristrar Express for the November 29 journey. "It is a direct train that leaves Kochuveli at 9.10 am on Wednesday and reaches Ludhiana at 11 am on the third day," she said.
However, the Kerala Basketball Association did not allow them to take the direct train. The association booked sleeper-class tickets on Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin (22633) Express, which reaches Delhi at 12.30 am on the third day. "We could not understand the logic. But we booked AC tickets and travelled in an AC coach and did not use the tickets issued by the association," said the player.
In Delhi, there was a halt for 10 hours. The next train to Ludhiana was from Rohilla, 20km away, at 10.30 pm. It reached Ludhiana at 2.40 am when the temperature was below 10 degrees Celsius, said the players.
The biting cold took a toll on the players. "Three players in the men's team and two from our team fell ill because of the long wait in the Delhi cold," said the first player.
The players had to be in hospital emergency wards for two days. "We were put on drips for two days after every match. We suffered a lot this time," she said.
Yet, the women went on to reach the final of the championships by winning all six matches they played. "In the past three months, we won two golds and one silver for Kerala. We deserve to be treated better," said a fourth player in the team.
To be sure, the Maharashtra team, which did not win any match in the championships, was travelling in the AC compartment on the same train.
It was not a Sports Council event: Minister
When contacted, Sports Minister V Abdurahiman blamed the lawlessness in trains passing through north India for the players' plight. "Two weeks ago, children with physical disabilities from Alappuzha went to Delhi for a programme. They were beaten and made to sit on the floor, and their seats snatched by other passengers. How hopeless! This is the norm in north India. There is no regard for reservation," he said.
Despite the government knowing the condition of passengers in sleeper class in north India, the players were not provided AC tickets. The Minister said that the government took players for the National Games in Goa in October in the AC compartment. "All the players of the National Games were taken in third-AC compartments. This (National Championships) must be an association event. None of our Sports Council teams has gone anywhere. I will have to enquire about it," he said.
'Our tickets were RAC for National Games'
When contacted, Kerala's Women's basketball team was livid with what the minister said. "For the National Games, the Sports Council got us sleeper tickets to and from Goa. The tickets were RAC and so we had to share the seats," said a player.
To be sure, Kerala's women's team won the National Games basketball gold by beating all the five teams it faced.
In the final, Kerala beat Karnataka 57-54 on October 28. The Karnataka government had announced Rs 5 lakh to each player if they had won the final. For runners-up, the Karnataka government announced Rs 3 lakh.
For years, the Kerala government has been giving Rs 2 lakh to the winners of the National Games. "But this year, the government has remained mum on the cash prize even after we returned victorious," said the player quoted above. "Imagine, we won the National Games and may get Rs 2 lakh and the losing team will get Rs 3 lakh," said another player.
Players said the Kerala Basketball Association always booked sleeper tickets and was irregular in giving transport and daily allowance, saying the government owed it lakhs of rupees.
'Govt owes Rs 22 lakh to association'
A senior official of the Kerala Basketball Association said the Kerala government owed around Rs 22 lakh to the association. "Earlier, we used to get money in advance. Now, we have not got the money since 2019. It is the story of all sports associations, not just basketball," he said. The government owes around Rs 22 lakh to Rs 23 lakh to all of them, he said.
He said the prize money for the basketball players for winning the National Games will be given soon. "There will be a delay but it will not be denied," he said.
On booking sleeper tickets, he said the Sports Council would clear the travel bills only for sleeper tickets. "But we will try to book AC tickets for our players from next year," he said.
