Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju shows displeasure over reports that Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and other seniors ministers in the Maharashtra government used a track for athletes as a parking lot during a meeting in Pune.
“I’m personally very sad to see such disrespect for sports and sporting ethics in our country,” Mr Rijiju tweeted, reacting to a tweet by a BJP MLA from Pune who reported the incident which took place on Saturday.
“As it is we are lacking in sufficient sports facilities in our country. All the sports centers need proper care,” he said.
In his tweet yesterday, Siddharth Shirole, the BJP legislator from Shivajinagar Constituency, said that apart from Mr Pawar (who is Indian Olympic Association president), Sports Minister Sunil Kedar and Minister of State Aditi Tatkare had also parked their vehicles on the track for athletes at Pune’s Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.
Apologising for the incident, Pune District Information Officer issued a clarification saying that although only one vehicle was allowed to use the cement concrete road near the athletic track, other vehicles reached there despite not being granted permission.
“The incident has been noted by the sports minister and instructions have been issued to make sure that such an incident is not repeated again. Going forward it will be made sure that vehicles are not allowed at an athletic track,” the Pune District Information Officer said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Om Prakash Bakoria, Sports Commissioner of Maharashtra told Media sources that since Mr Pawar had some issue with his leg, only his vehicle was allowed to be parked on the cemented track.
“I apologise for it and assure you that such an incident will not be repeated again,” the State Sports Commissioner quoted.
The ministers reportedly did not want to use the elevators to reach the second floor of the sports complex which houses a meeting room. To avoid the inconvenience, the ministers decided to take the cars up to the second floor of the complex and park the cars on the athletic track, according to Media sources.
The cars were reportedly parked till the meeting came to an end.
