PANJIM: The Aam Admi Party (AAP) Convener on Monday said that contaminated water in the swimming pool at Mapusa has exposed the athletes, preparing for the National Swimming Championship, to health issues.
With the swimmers allegedly contracting pool-borne diseases from the lone practice venue, AAP North Goa Convener Sunil Signapurkar came down heavily on the government for failing to provide swimming pools to the athletes for training.
He informed that just 10 days are left for the National Swimming Championship to be held at Rajkot and nearly 40 swimmers, who are preparing to excel and bring glory to self and the State are in a state of uncertainty about their future.”
“With the government playing fiddle while questions about non availability of swimming pools for training these athletes who supposed to undergo rigorous training programme with their coaches are left unanswered,” he said.
“The deteriorating water quality at the Mapusa pool, which has turned olive green, has exposed the athletes to serious health hazards such as ear infections, skin rashes and eye irritation that could lead to more serious health issues,” he added
“Despite the in-house pool staff trying to address the issue, the party stated there has been no improvement in the water quality.
“All can see the difficulties and pain faced by these swimmers but the Sports Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and his departmental heads are turning a blind eye to the problem,” he added further accusing them of “total mess in the Sports Department”.
The party also charged the government for discriminating the sportspersons by dolling out crores of rupees to non-performing sports persons and depriving the deserving.
