Hundreds of participants of 2K and 5K run conducted by SHE Teams were left disappointed on Sunday when the organisers refused to given them medals on the ground that ‘they were late’.
After finishing the run, several participants who visited the makeshift counter to collect snack boxes were not given their medals of participation. “The man who was handing over the refreshment box to us said he cannot give us medals as we were late. He also maintained that they were falling short of medals to be given to 10K runners,” said a participant.
Earlier in the day, thousands of participants, mostly youngsters, gathered at People’s Plaza, Necklace Road, at 5.30 a.m. to take part in the run. Apart from celebrities, bureaucrats and youngsters, para-runners too joined the event.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, along with Telangana Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy, City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar and actors Pooja Hegde and Niharika Konidela flagged off the run that had three categories – 2K, 5K and 10K.
Mr. Narasimhan congratulated the participants for standing up for the cause of women safety by taking part in the SHE Teams’ initiative.
According to Mr. Kumar, over 8,500 people had registered themselves for ‘VR1 Run’ organised by Hyderabad SHE Teams as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. “Of them, more than 10,000 people took part in the run,” he said.
Unique initiative
The VR1 is a unique initiative by Bharosa and SHE Teams, who work for the safety of women and children with an aim to make Hyderabad a crime-free city, said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT) Shikha Goel. She said Hyderabad was one of the safe cities in the country for women.
Women safety
“It’s all about expressing solidarity with the cause and people, by participating in the run in large numbers, proved that they do,” she said. Earlier, the DGP said that the SHE Teams were working round the clock to ensure the safety of women living in Hyderabad.