The call for austerity may not not have prevented the Haryana government from purchasing luxury sedans for its ministers,but it has surely given the central government reason enough to ground some state ministers and officials who were all set to board a flight to London on August 4 to cheer its sportspersons participating in the Olympics. The Centre,sources said,has shot down the proposed London trip of nine-member Haryana delegation,which was to be led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The state sports authorities,however,maintained that Centre was ye to take a final call on the issue. Interestingly,the CM had to unpack his bags even before the Centre cancelled the trip owing to the forthcoming vice-presidential elections. The others who will now miss the flight are Ambala MLA Venod Sharma,Sports Minister Sukhbir Kataria,his principal secretary Chhatar Singh,principal officer on special duty MS Chopra and Secretary and Director Sports. So enthusiastic were the members of the delegation that they had booked their accommodation and travel facilities in London without even waiting for the final approval from the Centre. Sources said that the payments for the accommodation and travel were done in full as there was great difficulty in finding suitable hotels owing to the rush. Meanwhile,the state authorities are perturbed over being grounded and are planing to take up the matter again with the Centre for reconsideration. We have our 18 players out of the 81 representing India at the Olympics. We will still try to get approval, a senior Sports Department officer said,even as he maintained that Centre was yet to take a final call on pertinent file.
