The gross mismanagement during the first Indian Grand Prix athletics on Sunday resonated in the Parliament on Thursday with former India hockey captain and Biju Janta Dal member Dilip Tirkey raising the issue and demanding accountability from officials.
Raising the matter during zero hour, Tirkey, who is also the BJD’s parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, sought answers on why power backup was not provided despite being present at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
“Two Odisha athletes, Amiya Kumar Malick and Srabani Nanda, participated in the event. The Olympic qualifying mark in 100m men is 10.19s while Malick completed it in 10.09 and in women the qualifying mark is 11.32s whereas Srabani did it in 11.23. (But) because of power failure, their timings were recorded manually whereas only electronic timing is recognised internationally. So despite making national records all their efforts were wasted,” Tirkey said.
“Most surprising is that, despite the presence of power back up at the stadium, it wasn’t used. Now we are not even sure if these athletes will get another chance. Even if they do, there is no guarantee that they will be able to give their best. An athlete’s performance depends on a lot of things including health, weather etc. This lapse is a criminal negligence and shows how serious we are about sports in the country,” he said.
Seeking an enquiry into the mess, Tirkey demanded that action should be taken against those responsible for the episode to ensure “such an incident is not repeated.”
