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She was finally employed by Mumbai Division of Western Railways
Approached the then Badal government several times but nothing happened
Ignored by home state, cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur got job in Mumbai, says father
By Raju William
Moga, July 23, 2017: The family of Indian woman cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur was watching on television the final match of the ICC World Cup between India and England today when it learnt about the job promotion of their daughter.
The news apparently made the family happier but at the same time, it made her father Harminder Singh recall, with a deep of bitterness, the failure of the government of their home state Punjab to provide Harmanpreet Kaur a job after she represented India for the first time in the 2008 Women World Cricket Cup.
“We met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal a number of times at Chandigarh and Delhi and requested for a job to our daughter but nothing happened,” Harmander Singh told babushahi.com on Sunday.
She finally landed a job with Mumbai Division of Western Railway about four years ago courtesy former Indian women cricket team captain Diana Eduljee who recognized this Moga girl’s cricket talent. She works there as Chief Officer Superintendent.
She got the job a few days before crossing the required age limit. “God knows what would have happened to her cricket career had she not got a job with the Railways,” added her father who works as a clerk with a Moga lawyer at the district courts.
After Harmanpreet’s match-winning knock of 171 runs in 115 balls against the defending Champion Australia in the semi-final on Friday catapulted here into nationwide limelight, her employer Mumbai Division said it would recommend her name to the Railways Ministry for promotion.
Eldest of her siblings- a sister and brother-Harmanpreet’s success story speaks volumes for her determination and hard work to make it to the top in the game that has little support for women’s cricket in her home state.
Her achievement is all the more praiseworthy as her native place Moga has nothing to boast about the cricket infrastructure and opportunity especially for the women cricketers. But she could prove herself internationally despite being severely handicapped in terms of financial support to pursue a costly game of cricket.