Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) president Anju Bobby George on Saturday, through an emotional open letter addressed to Minister for Sports E.P. Jayarajan, announced her intention to refund an amount of Rs.40,000 that she reimbursed for the flight tickets between Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru during the last six months.
Prefacing her letter that she was writing to him with relief, hope and despair, the lone Indian athlete to win a medal in the World Championships said she was refunding the money for the flight tickets to ensure that a situation did not arise to label her and the KSSC administrative board as corrupt.
Writes on corrupt deals in KSSC
Through the two-page letter, Ms. George requested the Minister to look into corrupt deals which had occurred in the KSSC during the last one decade, including the ones relating to the Sports Lottery which was conducted by the 2001-2006 Left Democratic Front (LDF) regime, the laying of the synthetic track at the Maharaja’s College ground in Kochi, and the construction of the High Altitude Training Centre in Munnar. She said that it was after understanding the under-the-table deals which had occurred in these matters that the KSSC administrative board, under her, had decided to appoint an ethics commission in the council. “The fact that money meant to provide food to children attached to the sports hostels was being siphoned off was quite disturbing.”
Ms. George said that she would be only willing to lend a helping hand to the government in its fight against corruption and also suggested that all appointments made in the KSSC be left to the Kerala Public Service Commission. In conclusion, the athlete also politely reminded the Minister that she had been working as KSSC president without drawing any salary.
