Lusofonia Games a Saga of Haphazard Preparation, Corruption and Absurd Discrimination The 3rd edition of the Lusofonia games scheduled to be held from 2nd to 10th November,2013 in Goa is hardly less than four months away. However, this multinational multisport event is besieged by messy preparation, dishonest deals and strange biases towards well known Catholic luminaries in the field of sports administration. What an irony for Goa that under its so called Parivartaan CM Manohar Parrikar Goa Governement has given composite package to one contractor M/s Simplex Project Ltd - a private construction company from Hyderabad which has no experience in laying professional athletic tracks. Coincidentally, it may be noted that Keshav Chandra, IAS Secretary (Sports) and CEO of Lusofonia Games CEO also hails from Hyderabad . This construction company from Hyderabad in turn has sub contacted the work to M/s Sports Infratech – a new company floated by the M/s Jubilee Sports which has been blacklisted by the CBI for the supply of sub-standard sports equipment during the Commonwealth Games 2010. It is strange that under Parrikar rule in Goa, a CBI blacklisted firm is now executing the works of laying down the athletic tracks for Lusofonia Games. The contract for laying of the athletic tracks at Bambolim and Mapusa is valued at over Rs 12 crores . As per the CPWD manual , the laying of tracks is done by CPWD in conjunction with SAI. The Manohar Parrikar government has failed to take advice from CPWD and the SAI. It completely shows the conflict of interest by handing over the job to a private company M/s Simplex Project Ltd. The main point of laying a synthetic track is soil testing and secondly the track approved by the International Athletic Federation and they should also suit the Goa climatic condition. According to the well established international norms the cost of laying imported synthetic surface for athletic track is always in per square meters and the payment is done in dollars, then how come the Manohar Parrikar Government has given the contract to a private construction firm M/s Simplex Project which has absolutely no knowledge of laying of tracks and that too by making payment in rupees ? This clearly indicates that the Parrikar government has manipulated norms for awarding the tender as it suits its needs to make fast money through corruption. In return the helpless niz goemkars will get the tracks of worst quality. This is the reward the locals are getting for electing BJP government in Goa headed by the so called Mr. Clean, Manohar Parrikar. The new athletic tracks laid at Mapusa and Bambolim will be fiasco because they are each bereft of a preferred 400m warm up track which is mandatory requirement as per the manual of International Athletic Federation but no warm up track has been installed which is against the IAF norms. Warm up track of 200m is of no use as compared to 400m track, as tract timing differs and it is injurious to the runner and the inside area cannot be used for football. A 400m track should have been installed with fewer lanes, as it has been previously done at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune and at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. I am very sorry to say in this crucial matter even Goa Football Development Council led by its dynamic Chairman Dr. Rufino Monteiro a renowned cardiologist has failed to take up the matter with Manohar Parrikar. Due to the non existence of warm up tracks, after the Lusofonia Games, our State in future will not be able to host any major international athletic events .It will be a big loss for Goa on the front of Sports Tourism revenue. It is a bitter truth that under Manohar Parrikar, the entire infrastructure for Lusofonia Games is not at all being built with a vision and foresight as it is not going to help harness Goa’s indigenous sporting talent. The way things exists on the ground it seems the infrastructure is being built only to stage the Lusofonia games by making a quick buck through fraud and corruption. Take for instance the infrastructure being constructed for the athletics events at Bambolim, opposite the Goa Medical College, there is no approach road leading to the stadium, which means that speeding vehicles cruising along the highway will have to be parked by the roadside creating a bottle-neck. Even if parking provision is created away from the highway, the road will emerge into an accident prone area. Yet another extravagant manner of wastage of public funds is in the area of avoiding water logging at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, the manner in which the ground as well as the plinth of the viewing gallery has been raised gives rise to suspicion that the works are carried out primarily aimed at gaining commissions at a tearing speed . Internationally, world-wide, the trend to avoid water logging is going for turbine pumps which are cheaper as well super efficient, as it pumps out water instantly. Such type of pumps are installed in Delhi for which keshav must be aware during posting in Delhi Like the other very important institutions in Goa be it education, health , Panchayatti Raj , town and country planning etc etc that have been jeopardized and brutalized by Manohar Parrikar an IIT alumni , similarly the establishment of sports is facing the gravest of the grave risk of survival .Till date Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has deliberately avoided the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Sports Authority of Goa ( SAG) and in this manner he has scuttled any effort to rope in local sportspersons with expertise in sports, thereby permitting his companion bureaucrats like Keshav Chandra to dominate the scene. Now coming on Discrimination aspect, Manohar Parrikar might have failed in almost all aspects to rule Goa, but he has certainly established finesse in creating prejudice between Goans. Soon after taking over as the CM he had indulged in total favoritism by getting his man Dr Sanjay Dalvi instead of a senior and more renowned Dr Ruando de Sa appointed as head of the Directorate of Health Services. Connected with the Lusofonia Games, same trend of hatred is palpable in the appointments to the Committee of Lusofonia Games . Two front-ranking Catholic sportspersons having a proven track record in organizational abilities have been dropped from the committee of the Lusofonia Games. 1) Dr Susan D’Souza an NIS qualified coach and also Ex Director of Sports & Youth Affairs, Government. of Goa was shunted out of the organizational aspects of the Games. It is ironical that she was instrumental in her capacity as the Director of Sports to bring Lusofonia Games to Goa. 2)Roque Dias,Ex Director of Sports Goa & presently the Regional Director of the Sports Authority of India ,Ministry of sports & Youth Affairs,Govt. of India. Dias had played a pivotal role in the successful organization of 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. When top officials of 2010 Commonwealth Games were found to be involved in corruption, Roque was one of the few officers who was found to be above board in his dealings.What are the catholic BJP MLAs/minister/s doing on this issue? Interestingly, the two advisors Rajkumar Sacheti and V.V.Saxena (non-sportsperson)who have been appointed for the Lusofonia Games were picked up from the 2010 Commonwealth Games Secretariat at Delhi. They have been appointed without any Vigilance clearance. Rajkumar Sacheti was PA to Suresh Kalmadi (Chairman of the Organizing Committee of 2010 Commonwealth Game) and was found misusing his official position as Joint DG, Commonwealth Games by the Central Vigilance Commission/ CBI. So what does the sordid saga signify ? It means that when BJP’s Manohar Parrikar is in opposition he will shout from the rooftops against corruption or illegal mining or casinos , but when he is in power he and his party goes all out to embrace and hug the very people and businesses who were described corrupt, cheats , producers of bad money etc etc . The IIT award winning Goa CM Manohar Parrikar could have taken a cue from Oomen Chandy Government of Kerala on its preparation for the upcoming 2014 National Games. The Kerala Government has appointed ex-officio members of the Sports Authority of India as advisors. But the egoistic and insensitive CM Manohar Parrikar is only there to intimidate the opposition because it is exposing his misrule and utter failure to deliver on plethora of promises like using income from casinos for only old age homes, scrapping Regional Plan 2021, initiating action against Casino-SEZ mafia and people involved in illegal mining etc etc. What an quirk of fate, the Lusofonia Games are still more than 100 days away but because of Manohar Parrikar’s short sighted and thoughtless approach even the infrastructure for Lusofonia Games as it exists in most centers including the ones at Bambolim and at Mapusa has already started corroding
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 15:31:58 +0000