Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, July 14: The once revenue-starved Sports Authority of India seemed to be on a good wicket, of late. Gone are the days when its own revenue earning method used to be sluggish, thanks to mismanagement at different quarters and uncharacteristic functioning of certain administrators. But ever since the finance committee of its governing body gave the go ahead for its own fund generation, SAI has progressed with several of its money-spinning ventures.
The first sign of it came when it rented out the spacious Nehru Stadium premises some two years ago, besides giving away the unused space outside it for other purposes. Until then, unlike in other stadia, the Nehru Stadium was under its use only.
Since then the earning has looked up. According to sources, this year SAI is likely to break all the barriers in earnings with some of its stadia doing wonderful performance.
Take for instance, the National Stadium. It has earned a whopping Rs. 16 lakh for the quarter ending June, 1999. This was in contrast to the Rs. 8.71 lakh it generated around the same period last year. The money generated through its summer coaching camps in particular, and letting out the stadium and its surrounding areas for other activities in general, have multiplied.
The unique feature this year was that the Stadium added three more disciplines to its original summer plan. Until a year ago, the Stadium used to conduct only cricket camps during summer. But the inclusion of hockey, tennis and swimming has been received well with the trainees, whose accessibility to the venue has been the most talked about thing apart from the nice environ. Over 300 trainees attended the various morning camps, which was held between May 17 and June 30 and June 7 and June 27.
The summer camps were held only in the morning in order to accommodate the regular campers who train in the evenings. This might have discouraged several trainees but earnings, which stood at Rs. 2.27 lakh, had shown a remarkable upward trend. In fact, this was much more than what it was last year when the camps were held both in the morning and in the evening.
Though swimming and cricket remain the most sought-after disciplines, at the Stadium, the number of trainees for disciplines like basketball and tennis have also increased considerably.
The Stadium has also added roller skating to its list of facilities that are available at present. Soon, according to administrator Manmeet Singh Goindi, gymnastics will be revived. The discipline was done away with some five years ago and the equipment are obviously in unkempt condition.
The change of guard at the helm some time ago has also helped augment its resources. A good start has been made and it8217;s for the authorities to make use of the growing popularity of the venue like the National Stadium.
