Guwahati, Sept. 8: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd?s grand gesture of donating Rs 1 crore to Assam to raise its contingent for the 33rd National Games has ruffled feathers at the Assam Olympic Association (AOA). What has rankled the sports body is that it was bypassed and the sum donated to the state government.
?Nowhere in the country does any government raise contingents for the National Games or any sporting event. It is the apex sports body?s prerogative to prepare the contingent for a particular state. In Assam, we have been doing so for the last two National Games in Punjab and Hyderabad,? AOA general secretary Mukut Medhi said. ?Instead of accepting the ONGC cheque, Dispur should have directed them to hand it over to us.?
He, however, did not hold the ONGC responsible for handing over the donation to chief minister Tarun Gogoi. ?The National Games Secretariat (NGS) hijacked funds meant for us. The secretariat submitted a budget proposal of the same amount to the ONGC on the pretext of building the Games contingent. It was just a ploy to deprive the AOA of its legitimate share of funds,? Medhi alleged.
The AOA, too, had submitted a budget proposal seeking sponsorship from the ONGC.
The NGS, on the other hand, stated that it was not aware of any donation by the ONGC but admitted that it had applied to the company for Rs 1 crore to prepare the Assam contingent.
?So far, we have got Rs 5 crore from the Union sports ministry towards conducting of the Games. Although we have moved almost all the corporate or business houses in Assam, we are yet to get any contribution from any quarter,? a senior NGS official told The Telegraph.
However, the claim belies the ONGC chairman-cum-managing director Subir Raha?s recent statement at a press conference that he had handed over the cheque to Gogoi.
A furious Medhi also withdrew the AOA?s promise to secure at least 20 golds for Assam sportspersons groomed under its Operation Gold coaching project. ?Since we were compelled to stop the coaching camps and our resources get hijacked, we cannot guarantee even a single gold. Now that the NGS and directorate of sports have volunteered to shoulder the responsibility of contingent preparation, they should be able to tell how many gold or silver medals Assam is going to win.?
