It had been a stellar performance from the Pallathuruthy Boat Club (PBC/ Tropical Titans rowing Veeyapuram Chundan) as they won the Champions Boat League (CBL) title for the third successive season, which ended on December 9, 2023. Despite being crowned the kings of the backwater, the PBC along with eight other boat clubs that took part in the CBL-III, organised by the State Tourism department, have found themselves in a financial quagmire, thanks to an inordinate delay in receiving the prize money and bonus promised to them by the State government in its entirety.
Though the government has distributed the amount for the first eight races, a sum of ₹1.94 crore, including bonus and prize money for the final four rounds along with cash prizes to the winner, runner-up and third-place finisher, is pending. Besides, the government has not yet cleared the balance amount of ₹36 lakh to snakeboat committees/ owners.
“The league drew to a close more than two months ago. In the case of the PBC, we received ₹56 lakh from the government for the initial eight races, but there is no word on the pending ₹57 lakh. We competed in the CBL-III, including the Nehru Trophy Boat Race, the season’s first race, on a budget of around ₹2 crore. The amount was spent on training, paying remuneration to oarsmen and so on. While we arranged some money through sponsorships and contributions, the rest was borrowed from individuals and lending firms. The inordinate delay on the part of the government in releasing the amount has put the club in a deep predicament,” says Suneer A., secretary, PBC.
The boat race, modelled on the Indian Premier League (IPL), carried a cash prize of ₹5.9 crore. All the nine clubs that participated in the 12-round CBL-3 are entitled to a bonus of ₹3 lakh for each race. The first three winners of each CBL match are given ₹5 lakh, ₹3 lakh and ₹1 lakh respectively. The title winner is entitled to ₹25 lakh, runners-up (₹15 lakh) and third-place finisher (₹10 lakh). A sum of ₹1 lakh is given to snakeboat committees/ owners for each race.
“We are awaiting ₹15.7 lakh from the government. We have contacted both the Tourism and Finance departments for the money but to no avail. To say a club like us is in deep crisis is an understatement,” says Ajayakhosh K.A., president, Vembanad Boat Club (Pride Chasers), Kumarakom.
Rajeev S., secretary, Veeyapuram Chundanvalla Samithi (snakeboat committee), who is awaiting ₹4 lakh says the lackadaisical attitude being shown by the government is not good for the future of CBL competition.
The Tourism department, meanwhile, blamed the Finance department for the delay in distributing the amount. “We have already requested the amount of four races from the government, but are yet to receive it,” says a Tourism department official.
Recently, ₹9.96 crore was set apart for the CBL in the State Budget for 2024-25, which is less compared to the previous years. In the 2023-24 and 2022-23 Budgets, the government allocated ₹12 crore and ₹15 crore respectively for the event.
