In August last year after the then Sports Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar had claimed that the State was ready to host the games, Herald, in a detailed report headlined ‘National Games, a pipe dream’ had pointed out exactly why Goa was nowhere near ready to host the Games – the infrastructure required for the games was just not ready. Now, we get to know that it is still not ready and that there is still a lot more work to be completed. When the stadiums will get ready and when the Games will take place is at the moment anybody’s guess
The 36th edition of the National Games (postponed since 2016) had been inordinately delayed because the infrastructure is not ready. It is still not ready, by admission of the new Sport Minister. The Minister, who inspected some of the sports facilities, said there remains a lot of work to be done to upgrade the existing infrastructure. He is not wrong. In August last year, when Team Herald went inspecting the stadiums, it found that many were not ready, and that there had been substandard work at others. For instance, the astro turf laid at the Mapusa Sports Complex had been initially rejected by the Indian Olympic Association officials after an inspection and the State government told that it had to be replaced.
Goa has been toying with the hosting of the Games for years. It has already spent Rs 450 crore on creating the infrastructure for the event and last year it was announced that Rs 150 crore had been set aside for the conduct of the Games, and that the organising committee had drawn up a budget of Rs 202 crore for hosting it. This is a lot of money and what Goa has seen in return is absolutely nothing, as not only have the Games not been held yet, even the infrastructure is not ready. From the manner in which the Sports Minister has spoken, it does not appear that the stadiums will be ready soon.
There are still no tentative dates for the Games. Somehow, Goa has escaped holding the Games on some pretext or the other. The last date that had been given had been October-November 2020 but these were called off due to the pandemic. A new date has not yet been announced. Had it not been the pandemic, would Goa have been ready to host the Games in 2020? It is unlikely, as the infrastructure was far from ready even at that time. The earlier date for the Games had been March-April 2019, but even as these dates had been announced, the speculation that the games would be postponed arose as the dates would clash with the Lok Sabha elections. That is exactly what happened.
Let’s not overlook the fact that the Games were awarded to Goa in 2008, and even 14 years later Goa is not prepared for them. Every government since then has publicly displayed the willingness to host the games, but it has not gone beyond that, except for selecting and unveiling a mascot, which possibly most have forgotten about.
Looking forward, is it possible for Goa to get the infrastructure ready and host the National Games before the end of the current calendar year? Then further postponing of the event serves no purpose. Most pandemic restrictions are now over, so there is nothing obstructing the Games. The stadiums have to be completed and the Games held. The repeated postponements only portray Goa in a bad light at the national level. This is a commitment from the State that has to be met, besides once the Games are over, sportspersons in Goa will have top-of-the-class infrastructure. Surely, this is one asset to have.
