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Journalism of Courage
A Rs 100 crore makeover planned for the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Mumbai campus has stalled owing to the long-standing administrative wrangle between the state and central governments.
Sports minister Jitendra Singh and SAI director general Jiji Thomson recently approved a complete refurbishment of SAI Kandivali,which is in a dilapidated state,via a Public-Private Partnership. However,the Maharashtra government wants them to vacate the premises at the earliest and return their land.
SAIs Kandivali centre,spread over approximately 75 acres,is one of the worst maintained facilities in the country. Despite that,it has produced athletes who have won medals at major international tournaments. Wrestlers Narsingh Yadav and Sandeep Yadav are both products of SAI Kandivali. It is also one of the few centres managed by SAI in western India,the other major facilities being in Gandhinagar and Aurangabad.
Easy accessibility
The sports ministry and SAI want to convert the Mumbai facility into a regional training centre and bring it on par with NIS Patiala. Many leading athletes have complained to SAI that Patiala isnt easily accessible and they have little social life outside the campus there. Mumbai is a great option for us to develop. It can be a perfect option for several national camps considering the campus there is hardly 20 minutes away from the airport and is easily accessible, Thomson said,adding that a leading private firm has agreed in principle to fund the project.
However,the tussle between centre and state has halted the proposed plan. The state government first wrote to the government of India to vacate the premises in 2006 citing that the land was given to them only on temporary basis. After several legal disputes,the Supreme Court ordered last year that the state and central governments reach an out-of-court settlement.
State sports secretary Jageshwar Saharia said the Maharashtra government wanted to build its own international standard training centre in place of SAI. It is our land and there is nothing wrong in demanding possession back, Saharia said. We had given it to them under the agreement that it will be for a short-term duration. We want SAI to vacate the premises so that we can develop it our own way.
SAI has faced similar problems in Hisar as well. Their efforts to establish a state-of-the-art training centre in collaboration with another private firm have hit a roadblock owing to bureaucratic problems in dealing with the Haryana government.
Meanwhile,the sports minister has been trying in vain to get in touch with Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Thomson is likely to meet Chavan in Mumbai next week. I am in touch with the chief ministers office and am hopeful of a meeting next week. It is important to work out an amicable solution, Thomson said.
