Sandeep Sarkar, Kolkata: There has been political change in the state. Nishith Pramanik took charge as the Sports Minister after the BJP government came to power. Now the mountaineer Piyali Basak sent a letter to him. Complained about multiple deprivations.
Chandannagar mountaineer Piyali congratulates Nishith Pramanak from mountaineers for becoming sports minister. He sought the Sports Minister’s intervention to resolve the problems he faced during the previous government.
In a letter to Nishith Pramanik, Piyali wrote, ‘I have climbed six of the highest mountain peaks in the world, including Everest. A mountain climbing committee was formed during the last state government. According to the rules there, Everest and any other highest mountain peak above 26 thousand feet, if any peak is climbed or Everest is taken in the committee of the state government. But for some unknown reason I was not placed in that committee. Despite the fact that I have climbed six of the world’s highest peaks, including Everest.’
Piali made a sensational complaint after that. Wrote, ‘Bangla climbers have been deprived in many ways. In the month of October 2018, the mountaineering committee of this state government selected 10 youngsters to climb Mount Sri Kailash.
The 10 youths were given mountain climbing equipment by the Mountaineering Committee of the Youth Welfare Department. The insurance was provided by the mountaineering committee. During the expedition to Mount Sri Kailash, the youth realized that all the mountaineering equipment provided by the West Bengal State Committee was of very poor quality, due to which they had to be in danger. Five of the ten started climbing the final steps to reach the summit. The other five were a little down, they could not come up. Five people have to climb the peak for many hours. Many obstacles have to be faced. These are normal in mountaineering.
On the way to the summit, at about 21,000 feet, the five young men suffered frostbite on their hands and feet. After returning from that expedition, they did not receive any insurance money from the committee. They did not get the medical expenses.’
Piyali told ABP Live Bangla, ‘Many of their fingers and toes have to be surgically amputated. Some lost all their fingers and toes. The committee of experienced mountaineers of the state did not make any arrangements for the insurance and medical treatment of the five youths and within a few days the room of the Youth Service Department in the respondent Bagh where the records of the mountain climb was kept was gutted. All those documents were burnt to ashes. Among those documents were the insurance papers.’
Piali said, those climbers could not take any further action with the insurance documents. The treatment had to be done at their own expense, the state government committee did not take any responsibility. And all the papers of the expedition were burnt to ashes. Piyali alleged that the West Bengal State Committee did not address any of the complaints.
In the letter sent to the sports minister, Piyali wrote, ‘In 2018, I did the Manaslu campaign. Before going to the expedition, I submitted all the documents as per the government rules to the state government committee, met the sports minister Arup Biswas. He assured me that when he returns from the expedition, he will give me all that is due as per the rules of the state government. Although he did not give it despite my written request, after successfully climbing Manaslu, the eighth highest peak in the world, I was not given the respect I deserved, the financial support I deserved. Next year i.e. in 2019, I went to climb Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world. Again I submitted all the documents to the mountaineering committee following all the government rules but again I was denied my dues. I was doing all these expeditions with a loan from the government bank, as per the rules of the Nepalese government in the Everest expedition, a Nepali Sherpa was required to be there, he misbehaved with me from the beginning. I was cheated. Notifying the State Mountaineering Committee was of no avail.’
Piali said, ‘The West Bengal government sanctioned Tk 2 crore per head for rescuing the bodies of Bengali mountaineers who lost their lives on various highest peaks, including Everest, but the Nepalese agency said they did not get the money, and the members of this mountaineering committee kept saying that all the documents were burnt due to a fire in the office of the mountaineering committee of the youth department in Bavidi Bagh.’
Piyali hopes that the new government will immediately take action against deprivation.
