Rocking the boat

BEHIND THE NEWS

Sports ministry-CWGOC at loggerheads

Is another major controversy brewing in Indian sportofficialdom? Delhi's spring air is thick with the news that the sportsministry has dashed off a missive to the Prime Minister's Officedetailing charges against the Commonwealth Games Organising Committeethrowing into stark relief rampant mismanagment. While no one iswilling to confirm or deny the existence of such a missive, thegrapevine is buzzing with this news. Coming at this late stage in theprepratory journey of the Commonwealth Games, it doesn't augur wellfor the relations between the sports ministry under M S Gill and theOC under Suresh Kalmadi. The widening divide between the two tallestsports administrators in the country was seen recently at theunveiling of the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, the venue of theHero Honda World Cup hockey tournament.
No CWGOC member was present when the stadium was thrown open, anobvious slight to the Kalmadi run IOA and CWGOC. The chasm betweenGill and Kalmadi goes back to giving permission to the staging of theF1 race in the Delhi NCR. The company promoting the event waseventually found to be owned by Kalmadi's family. The sports ministryrefused to clear the foreign exchange demand of the company for the F1race. The missive comes close on the heels of the sports ministrydirecting the CWGOC to divest its joint director general T S Darbariof all responsibilities. Darbari is allegedly involved in a Customsbreach case recently and the ministry wants a thorough inquiry intothe matter.
Darbari interestingly handles revenue, marketing and businessactivities of the OC, all crucial verticals. The ministry hasinstructed its own man in the OC Jarnail Singh, CEO to make thefindings of the inquiry known at the earlies. After various fracasbetween CGF CEO Mike Hooper and the tardy pace of progress of the CWGinfrastructure roll out late last year, the PMO had drafted in keybureaucrats in the OC for greater financial oversight. Subsequently,it is believed that all vital functions of the OC had beenappropriated by the government since it was concerned at the shockingapathy being displayed by the OC towards completion schedules.