PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Vice-President Valmiki Naik on Monday attacked Sports Minister Govind Gaude for fooling the people of Panjim and Goa by ‘faking an inauguration’ of the Campal swimming pool complex in July this year, when in fact nothing is working at the pool complex and no one is able to use it as of today.
Naik said that the so-called inauguration was nothing but a theatrical production by Gaude, who is also the Art and Culture Minister.
He alleged that Gaude staged a fake inauguration with props and lighting and event management for the media.
“The starting blocks from which swimmers dive into each lane, have disappeared after the inauguration. The filtration plant which was claimed to be as per international standard is not working. The new access road and entry from which mediapersons were welcomed during the inauguration, is no longer functional. The complex looks like a construction site which is far from complete. The entire inauguration was a farce, with props and equipment displayed for the media event only as if it was a play or tiatr,” Naik alleged.
Briefing mediapersons at the site, Naik said that even the renovation of the pools is not actually complete, and there is major leakage due to which 8-10 tankers are replenishing the water on a daily basis.
“The swimming pool was shut down for the public for three years for renovation purposes. State swimmers faced tremendous inconvenience due to its shutdown. Their training was hindered and they faced a lot of problems travelling to other swimming pools,” he added.
Naik demanded that the Campal SAG swimming pool complex should be opened not only to ‘Khelo India Swimmers’ but also to the general public at the earliest, as enough time and money has been wasted by the Minister on this project.
AAP leader Sunil Signapurkar slammed the Sports Ministry for completely ignoring the needs of sportspersons.
