Sports secretary N.N. Sinha signs certificates to be distributed even as the function was on at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

In efficient hands, it could have proved to be a boon to Jharkhand’s sports talents, but the state’s officials turned the “ceremonies” into a big joke. On March 14 the awards function at Birsa Munda Stadium (with chief minister Madhu Koda as chief guest) was both a fiasco and a farce.

Problems started from the word go. The one-and-a-half hour’s delay before the event resulted in a lot of young women players having a tough time going back home. Though after the event Koda and sports officials lauded themselves as representatives of a “caring” government, and perhaps the only government to disburse cash awards, the way they went about the show was a revelation of how truly little they cared.

In the ceremony, 196-odd sportspersons, (who represented the state in international, national, junior, and sub-junior tournaments and medal-winners in 21 sporting disciplines right from Doha Asiads to sub-junior tournaments) were honoured with cheques. The amount varied between Rs 937 and Rs 3 lakh. But due to some mysterious logic, officials made an announcement before hand of leaving out winners who have been rewarded once.

This decision managed to create an uproar leading to a compromise, where five women hockey players, who were left out from the first list were awarded. But they forgot all about Masira Surin. Then, during the ceremony, officials randomly handed over cheques as officials read out the names and the players rushed up to receive them. “An official kept announcing the names, and the medal winners in the junior, sub-junior and other tournaments, rushed to the dais and received the cheques from whosoever was standing there. It did not have even a semblance of honour,” a coach complained.

“If they had to do that, they could have just send over the cheques by post or handed them over to the respective associations,” he added. To add insult to injury, cheques and amounts got mixed up. For example, A. Chetri (who should have received a cash prize of Rs 10,000), received an amount of Rs 3,000, which is what a bronze winner was entitled to. “Following this, few sub-junior winners got more than the juniors, when it should have been the reverse,” a senior athletic association official fumed. Of course, those who got less may be compensated, but how can one take away the cash prizes already paid to sub-juniors who received “more”?

What has also peeved the Jharkhand Olympic Association fraternity is the biased treatment towards different sports. Take archery for instance, they point out. On August 29, 2006, the then sports minister distributed cash awards totalling to Rs 7.95 lakh among 22 archers and four coaches at a function held in Jamshedpur. Next, the association was granted Rs 3.44 lakh for coaching camps prior to the 33rd National Games, though the archers were receiving coaching at the Archery academy.

In contrast, only Rs 2.70 lakh was sanctioned (not yet paid), for coaching 45 athletes for the 33rd National Games. And for coaching the 35 women hockey players only Rs 1.94 lakh was sanctioned. “The trouble with the sports department mandarins is that they are non-sportspersons, who are interpreting rules and clauses without understanding the side effects. For mysterious reasons they are reluctant to consult those, who are involved with the games and know what needs to be done,” said a senior functionary.