Journalism of Courage
Several announcements made and resolutions passed by the PMC standing committee and general body offering help to sportspersons have not been implemented owing to lack of a policy and now itr has been decided to adopt them to plug the gap,according to Deputy Municipal Commissioner Suresh Jagtap.
The PMC passed several resolutions to felicitate sportspersons,but the promised financial assistance totalling Rs 70 lakh could be given due to lack of a policy, Jagtap said.
The PMC has proposed to adopt sportspersons and sports teams to grant them monetary aid. He said PMC has studied the policy of the state government and other civic bodies to frame the policy for PMC.”The civic body needs to spend five per cent of the budget for promoting sports via developing infrastructure and training facilities. We have taken the state government resolution of adopting sportsperson and sports team as basis for framing a policy,” Jagtap said.
There is a provision to adopt sportsperson and teams,he said adding,”The PMC can bear cost of training and facilities after adopting them. The players and team can act as brand ambassadors of the civic body.”
The PMC is consulting veteran sportspersons before finalising the policy so that it would help the civic body achieve its goal of promoting sports. Suggestions of elected representatives would be included in the policy,he added.
This comes after the elected representatives took the civic administration to task in a general body meeting recently over failure to implement decisions of the general body to give financial assistance to sportspersons.
The administration had admitted that proposals were being passed but none were implemented as there was no policy. Elected representatives had alleged the adminsitration intentionally did not do it. “It is cheating sportspersons by making announcements and not giving them,” said MNS corporator Kishore Shinde.
Sportsperson never come to us for help the civic body took the initiative,he said adding it is better not to insult them assuring help if it cannot be done. The civic body will sanction funds only after the state government approves the policy that has the nod of the PMC standing committee and the general body.
