A war of words have broken out between Hockey India and Sports Authority of India regarding the cancellation of junior women hockey team’s national camp with the SAI accusing HI of overshooting the allocated budget.
The government didn’t clear the national junior women’s hockey camp that was slated to start in Bhopal on Tuesday and SAI blamed HI for the cancellation. “Hockey India was allocated a budget of Rs 10.50 crore for its Annual Calendar. Hockey India was required to determine its priorities for competitions and training within this budget,” the SAI said in a statement.
“Hockey India is also reported to have substantial funds of its own, raised from various sources. It is expected that these funds would also be used to meet the expenditure towards training of athletes.
“It’s not mandatory for the Government to finance every activity proposed by the National Sports Federations. All National Sports Federations including Hockey India are required to mobilise additional resources to fund their various activities,” the statement said.
SAI’s reaction came after HI secretary general Narinder Batra on Tuesday filed an RTI against sports secretary Ajit Sharan and SAI director general Jiji Thomson for not clearing the camp.
The SAI also stated it has already released Rs 11.27 crore during 2014-15 for various activities relating to Hockey India as against the allocated budget of Rs 10.50 crore.
Batra responded by saying that SAI was welcome to inspect HI’s balance sheet. “We gave a proposed budget of Rs 42 crores for the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) of 2014-15. But SAI only allocated Rs 10.50 crores. To add to it SAI only gives 75 per cent of that amount while the rest 25 per cent are borne by us,” Batra said. “My balance sheet is clear. Our source of income from sponsorships and other things is just Rs 12 crore. And we end up spending more than that.”
Batra said leaving aside three foreign coaches — Terry Walsh, Roelant Oltmans and women’s team chief coach Neil Hawgood — it is HI which is responsible for the payment of salary of other coaching staff associated with Indian hockey.