The sports fraternity in the State was hit by two major tragedies this week. The former sports and youth affairs minister, Francisco Monte Cruz, passed away earlier this week at the age of 79. He was known as the beacon of sports infrastructure in Goa as he completed the construction of the internationally known Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Fatorda in a record time of less than 8 months in the year 1989, and ensured that the Nehru Gold Cup was held in the State. In his passing away, the State lost an able administrator who showed the path of quality infrastructure development. He left a legacy of how things can be made possible if the right intentions and dedication are followed in its earnest way.
There have been condolences pouring in from across the State and the country on the passing away of Monte Cruz. People across party lines have expressed the respect for the former sports minister.
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The second tragic incident the State faced is the damage caused to the Manohar Parikar Indoor Stadium at Navelim over the weekend. The stadium was rented out for a wedding reception and after the private event ended on August 25, when sports enthusiasts arrived at the indoor stadium, they witnessed extensive damage to the badminton court flooring.
Sports lovers have formally written to the Sports Minister and the Chief Minister over the irresponsible behaviour of the sports department towards the infrastructure in the State. They have also threatened to file an FIR and initiate legal action against those who have been privy and involved the damage caused to the indoor stadium.
Goa for long, has been struggling to construct and maintain international standard sports infrastructure. The Lusofonia Games of 2004 was an opportunity in which the first set of infrastructure was developed in the State, which included the track and field stadium at Bambolim. Despite repeated postponement, Goa finally hosted the National Games in October last year. The constant delays were due to the inability of the State to create the required sports facilities for the various events that would be hosted as part of the National Games.
Meanwhile, Goa hosted the Under-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup matches in the State. Being able to host international and national level sports events within a decade, wherein thousands of participants participated, the infrastructure could have been utilised for betterment of sports in the State. However, what we see is a very rude reality that none of the infrastructure created during these three events have been able to be used by the local sports persons and athletes to be able to hone their skills and participate in national and international level events, with much more training and development.
Hundreds of crores of rupees have been spent in creating the facilities across the State, including the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium at Taleigao, Peddem football facilities, Bambolim Stadium, Tilak Maidan in Vasco, The Sports Authority of Goa ground at Chicalim, the indoor stadium at Navelim, etc. However, a visit to these places will reveal that the facilities are used for non-sporting events more than the sports for which they had been constructed. For example, the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium seldomly will be in news for sporting events and it often hosts government and private events, being rented out for exhibitions, sales and conferences. The Manohar Parikar indoor stadium joined the list but ended up a step further by providing the premises for a wedding event – something that none of the previous sporting facilities had been ever handed out for. As was expected, despite an alarm raised by sportspersons and sports enthusiasts, the venue was provided for a wedding reception and the end result has been that there has been a massive damage done to the flooring at the badminton court at the indoor stadium.
Previously, O Heraldo has reported how the majority of the sports equipments and facilities remain unutilised or underutilised, despite the State government and the central government investing huge sums towards procurement of these equipments.
Goa is known for its enthusiasm for football and yet we do not have good infrastructure for the development of football in the State. The Campal football stadium has been in the making for nearly a decade now and not sure when the facility will be inaugurated.
At the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Paris, India ranked 71st in the medal tally with one silver and five bronze medals, whereas a small country which cannot contest on its own name, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) ranked 35th with one gold and six bronze medals.
In the last six years since the inception of the Khelo India initiative, while a huge amount of money has been spent in creating facilities, there are hardly any checks about their maintenance. Goa too has received central funding and money has been spent from the State’s exchequer, yet Goans are deprived of quality sports facilities. It is time that the government sets up a Commission to audit the expenditure on sports facilities and release a white paper on the ground reality of all the sports infrastructure in the State, including the ones created in villages and under the MPLAD funds.
Late Francisco Monte Cruz has shown the way towards creating quality sports facilities and the example should be followed in earnest by those in power.
