Mritunjay Tiwari's fast unto death agitation enters third day

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Players’ Association president Mritunjay Tiwari continued his fast unto death agitation at the Moinul Haq Stadium here for the third day here on Monday.

His condition turned worse on the Monday morning as he was feeling some breathing problem. However, later in the day he recovered slightly.

Tiwari began his hunger strike on Saturday demanding government jobs for state players who excelled in national and international arenas.

The state government had started job scheme for talented Bihar players in 2010-11 and since then about 150 players had got jobs in different state government departments.

The job scheme was put on hold for the last five years. In 2016, government again published an advertisement for fresh recruitment. About 700 players from 67 sports and games have applied for the jobs.

The general administration department of the state government which is looking into the matter, is yet to publish the list of the selected players for the jobs.

The general administration department has formed a sub-committee to shortlist the players but the panel which met a few days ago failed to break the deadlock of selection procedures.

It’s learnt that the sub-committee will meet on Tuesday to find out a solution to the issue.

Meanwhile, Bihar State Sports Authority (BBSA) director general Arvind Kumar Pandey, its secretary Ashish Sinha, art, culture and youth affairs department director Sanjay Sinha reached the dharna venue and urged Tiwari to call off his hunger strike.

Tiwari, however, said that he would call off his agitation when general administration department will  give a certain date to release the appointment letters to the selected players.