As expected, the current Sports Working Committee met on Wednesday
evening and its convenor Mr Vinod Tihara apparently wrote a three-page letter
which he has planned to send to the BCCI bosses. To cut the long story
short, the letter addressed to Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, says that all
officials in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) are corrupt and the
33 crore rupees given to it have gone waste.
It requests the board to divert the money to the Sports Working Committee
so that it could run cricketing activities and does not have to ask directors
of the DDCA every time for monetary sanctions.
Whether the Indian board looks at it positively or not is yet to be seen
but such a move, although quite nice as people running cricket will directly
get money, could also set a dangerous precedent where every association’s
cricket wing may demand similar privileges, not be answerable to top bosses and
may also branch off if headstrong, wilful and obstinate people happen to run those
wings. It is a very delicate issue and Mr Thakur and his colleagues at the
board headquarters will have to carefully look at it.
There is no doubt that BCCI’s money going to DDCA has remained
unaccounted for and has also gone waste over the years. In the words of former Delhi
cricketer Aakash Lal, “this (Ferozeshah Kotla) is the worst cricket ground in
the country”. Who is to blame is something everyone knows but no one wants to say.
The rot, they say, starts from the top.
On Wednesday, Mr Kirti Azad, the former India cricketer who is fighting
a battle against corruption, sent out a letter to media which he has addressed
to the finance minister Mr Arun Jaitley. The first point he makes points out
why the BCCI is not releasing the money to the DDCA so that it could pay out
the dues. His letter states:
“Balance Sheet for 2013-14 cannot be properly prepared since it contains
all kinds of fake bills and round tripping of Rs 1.55 crores by S P Bansal and
Anil Khanna in cahoots with Pankaj Bhardwaj, C K Bhardwaj, Pritam Panwar, and
Chaurasia. Without the duly audited Balance Sheet, BCCI will not give DDCA any
subvention money.”
This, my dear friends, says a lot. BCCI is yet to give DDCA an
outstanding sum 10 crore rupees for last year, according to Mr Ravindra Manchanda,
the treasurer. It is primarily because the balance sheet hasn’t been provided.
Then you have 7 crore rupees lying frozen with the Central Bank due to internal
squabbling. So how will things work out? Only you, Delhi’s dear cricket lovers can
suggest some solid solution.
Cut to the Wednesday’s happenings at the DDCA. While the Sports Working
Committee met, there was a small protest at the premises where members of two
clubs, the Paragon Club and Ravi Brothers staged a protest against the
committee. Their complaint was that they were not being allowed to play in the
league. There were players from the club present. More about that later.
In another piece of news, the
Delhi Cricket Council has written a letter to the authorities demanding the sports
committee elections be held before July 31 as it will give the new committee time to take over when the term of the current one expires.
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