Dutee Chand handed out-of-turn promotion by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, on Monday handed star sprinter Dutee Chand has been an out-of-turn promotion in the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). This comes months after the feud between Chand and the Odisha government over the lack of financial assistance.

“Out-of-turn promotion has been given to Dutee Chand in OMC in recognition for her sporting achievements,” Patnaik said after inaugurating three stare-of-the-art sports facilities in the state.

Dutee Chand thanked the Chief Minister for supporting and encouraging her in a tweet.

“Today I got Promotion in my job at OMC, Naveen Pattanaik sir give me the letter for getting Arjuna Award.First of all, I would like to thank my parents for all the success. I also would like to thank Hon’ble CM Naveen Patnaik Ji for always standing behind me and encourage,” the tweet from the sprinter read.

Today I got Promotion in my job at OMC, Naveen Pattanaik sir give me the letter for getting Arjuna Award.First of all, I would like to thank my parents for all the success. I also would like to thank Hon’ble CM Naveen Patnaik Ji for always standing behind me and encourage pic.twitter.com/CPKXnHRsrI

— Dutee Chand (@DuteeChand) November 2, 2020

Earlier in July, a major controversy had erupted when the star athlete decided to sell off her luxury BMW car for some extra funds to train for the Olympics. This saw the Odisha government cope heavy criticisms from various quarters for not supporting its athlete.

The State government then released a press note citing that they had provided financial assistance worth INR.4.09 crore to Dutee since 2015. The sprinter though opposed it, accused the government of humiliating her and said that it included INR.3 crore which was awarded to her for winning medals at the Asian Games.

The Odisha government had appointed Dutee as a Group-A level officer in Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) which “provided Rs 29 lakh support for her training and financial incentives”.

Dutee had also opposed the claims made by the state government and said that the amount included her salary as well.

The government has contested this by saying that the OMC pays Dutee a monthly salary of INR.84,606, contradicting the athlete’s claim of INR.60,000 per month.