HIV+ man flexes muscle, Govt indifferent
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 29 2012: HIV positive muscleman Khundrakpam Pradipkumar, who is taking part in 'Mr Asia' and 'Mr World' competitions in November and December, is facing acute fund constraint to maintain nutritional diet and other related expenditure in the height of his strenuous practice.

Pradip, who is on Anti Retroviral Therapy (Art), is competing at the 8th Senior Mr Asia championship in Ludhiana in November first week and 4th Mr World championship in Bangkok in December.

A resident of Khamnam Leirak here, Pradip (43) revealed his status after bagging the 60 Kg category senior Mr Manipur award at a State level meet held here in December 2007 .

Thereafter Pradip, a brand ambassador of Manipur Aids Control Society ( Macs), won silver and bronze in different National competitions and stood 8th in the Mr World competition.

Manipur is one of the six high HIV/Aids prevalence States of the country and according to Macs, the State has 38,016 people infected with HIV including 10,109 women and 2,578 children.

HIV positive muscleman Khundrakpam Pradipkumar

Pradip, who has come out to set a fitting example to the world what positive people can also do, spends around Rs 40,000 in procuring foreign nutritional diet on monthly basis.

"Macs, which paid Rs 8000 per month for my nutritional support, has stopped extending the amount since June this year," Pradip told this reporter on Monday.

One embarrassing event or rather a big setback he had ever faced in his life was when the State Government failed to appoint him as a regular employee in the Youth Affairs and Sports Department in 2009 "despite tall promises made by a Minister," he lamented.

Elaborating, Pradip said that he was appointed as a Physical Education teacher in the department on contract basis with one Minister assuring him that his post would be regularized soon.

"Since the regularization process was stopped on the ground that I could not touch the prescribed regulations to hold the post, my aspirations to get a full regular employee's salary enough to help me in procuring my diet lies shattered, "he lamented.

"Thereafter I stopped serving the job on contract basis where the salary is lower than the amount given by the Macs," he added.

Upon seeing his acute financial difficulties, a group of HIV positive widows of the State, are setting aside certain amount for him after launching a charity campaign, he said.

Recently a local civil body christened 'Joint Brothers' Group' also donated Rs 1.5 lakh for his cause after organizing a Tambola , he said while expressing his heartfelt gratitude to them as well as the positive widows who extended their helping hands to him.

"Since I'm facing a zero balance now I am not in the position to procure the standard nutritional diet but I'll manage to buy them at any cost and continue my hard practice to bring laurels in the forthcoming two international competitions," he vowed.

"After joining the two major competitions, I cannot decide my future if at all I continue to suffer like this," Pradip said emotionally .