Faridabad, June 8: Haryana government's bizarre diktat asking athletes who are government employees to give a part of their earnings to the state has led to a row. While the Opposition has gone all guns blazing against the Manohar Lal Khattar government, athletes have also expressed anger. Wrestler Babita Phogat has questioned the move saying that it seemed "illiterate people were making such policies".

"I am saddened by the notification. It seems as if illiterate people are making policies. Do they not know that we're already paying taxes on the money we win in competitions. If this is how things are going to work, the medal count will go down" Phogat said as quoted by ANI.

Olympian┬аSushil Kumar has also asked the BJP government in Haryana to take back the notification. Olympian Yogeshwar Dutt said that this was a new way of making athletes bow before the government.

The state government on the other hand has justified the move saying that they were not taking away anything from the athletes' salaries given by the government.

The Manohar Lal Khattar administration has ordered athletes employed with the government to give 33 per cent of their earnings. The notification in this regard was issued on April 30 by the Haryana government's Sports and Youth Affairs Department. Not just that, the notification says that 100 per cent of the athlete's income earned from ad endorsements while on duty, will be deposited with the Haryana State Sports Council.

The notification says that one-third of the sportspersons' earnings either by sports events or by commercial endorsements while the athlete is on leave will go towards the state of Haryana and that the money will be used for the development of sports in the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 08, 2018 03:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).