A hoarding of the 2005 National Games put up at the entrance to the Nehru Stadium. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, Feb. 7: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has suggested several steps to the Assam government so that it can smoothly organise the 2005 National Games.

The SAI has said technically sound and professional individuals should be appointed for the creation of infrastructure and preparations of the state contingent for the 2005 National Games that Assam will host.

Senior SAI official Subhas Basumatary is more than convinced that for Assam to do well at the Games in terms of performance and infrastructure, the state government and the Assam Olympic Association would have to get their act together.

They have not only to be transparent while finalising the plans and programmes for the mega event but will also have to ensure that the implementation is in the hands of technically sound professionals, he added.

The SAI’s call for professionalism and transparency came after a high-level government team, including chief minister and AOA president Tarun Gogoi and sports minister Robin Bordoloi, inspected a prospective venue for the Games in the Sonapur area on Wednesday.

The Guwahati-based SAI centre, which discovers and nurtures talent in the three states of Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, will play a crucial role in deciding the medal fortunes of states in the region at the Games. Most state associations in the region are often unable to provide the right back-up.

The venues for the Games, according to AOA secretary Mukut Medhi, will be announced during the visit of an Indian Olympic Association delegation in the first week of March. A decision on the venue and other related matters is likely to be taken at the AOA executive, to be held here on February 26. Basumatary and Medhi are among the few people to have been closely associated with the National Games campaign from the outset.

Basumatary was confident that Assam could be ready with the required infrastructure by 2005.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t do it. If Andhra Pradesh can finish it in 18 months, why can’t Assam do it in nearly three years? What is needed is teamwork, sound planning and implementation. Likewise, one-upmanship could have the reverse effect,” Basumatary observed.

Basumatary said Assam would require not more than Rs 170 crore to hold the Games on a modest scale and not more than Rs 250 crore for a lavish affair.

“Assam should take lessons from the Hyderabad Games. We can always cut down on expenses by proper planning,” he said.