Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had ordered all grounds to remain open for the benefit of the athletes who practice in them.
New Delhi: Hours after The Indian Express reported that Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium is emptied before its usual time to make space for an IAS officer to walk his dog, the bureaucrat, Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue) Sanjeev Khirwar, was transferred to Ladakh. The late-night notification also saw his wife Rinku Dugga being transferred to Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had ordered all grounds to remain open for the benefit of the athletes who practice in them. The newspaper had reported that over the past few months, athletes and coaches at the Delhi government-run Thyagraj Stadium have been complaining about being forced to wrap up training earlier than usual – by 7 pm – because Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue) Sanjeev Khirwar walks his dog at the facility about 30 minutes later.
It added, that when contacted, Khirwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer, described the allegation as “absolutely incorrect”. He accepted that he “sometimes” takes his pet for a walk at the facility but denied that it disrupted the practice routine of athletes.
The Indian Express report also mentioned that when it visited the stadium on three evenings over the past seven days, it saw the stadium guards walking towards the track at around 6.30 pm, blowing whistles and ensuring that the arena was cleared by 7 pm.
On Tuesday, The Indian Express saw Khirwar reach the stadium with his dog after 7.30 pm. The pet could be seen roaming around the track and football field even as security guards kept watch, the newspaper reported.
Quoting Khirawar, the newspaper wrote, “I would never ask an athlete to leave the stadium that belongs to them. Even if I visit, I go after the stadium is supposed to close…We don’t leave him (the pet) on the track…when no one is around we leave him but never at the cost of any athlete. If it’s something objectionable, I will stop it.”