Vijay Kumar Malhotra, president of General Association of National Sports Federations (GANSF), took serious exception to Sports Minister M S Gill blaming federations for the inordinate delay in readying stadiums and other infrastructure and said the government is responsible for the mess
Vijay Kumar Malhotra, president of General Association of National Sports Federations (GANSF), took serious exception to Sports Minister M S Gill blaming federations for the inordinate delay in readying stadiums and other infrastructure and said the government is responsible for the mess.
"It is a shocking and unacceptable observation of Sports Minister M S Gill. The sports and urban development ministries are responsible for this mess and chaos. The federations were hardly consulted by the government when it went for massive constructions," Malhotra said.
He said the GANSF was willing to cooperate with the sports ministry and other government agencies for the successful conduct of the Games.
"For us, a the Games are matter of national pride but Mr Gill seems to treat it as party affair," Malhotra, veteran Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader from Delhi, added.
"Only three weeks are left for the Games, but still a lot of works remains to be completed and the government instead of seeking cooperation from sports federations is trying to start a blame game," he said.
Malhotra said the sports minister in his effort to hide his "failure and incompetence" has started blaming the federations.
He said the prime minister and the sports minister have time and again told the media that stadiums and all other infrastructure should have been ready at least one year ago.
"All the agencies involved in the construction of the infrastructure -- DDA, PWD, CPWD belong to the government while the urban development ministry along with the sports ministry was monitoring the progress. Sports federations hardly figure in their scheme of things," he said.
