Within days of FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s visit to the city, the Delhi Soccer Association is crying foul as MCD and the Ministry of Rural Development highjack Dr Ambedkar Stadium.
With football having just started taking baby steps towards development, under the Asian Football Confederation’s ‘Vision India’ programme, the stadium has become a ‘mela’ ground — tents have been pegged on the pitch for an upcoming felicitation ceremony.
The May 4 programme will felicitate more than 5,000 village chiefs from across the country during the Nirmal Gram Purashkar-2007. The Rural Development ministry is organising the function.
As a result, all sports activities in the stadium have been deferred by at least two months. Among meets that have been postponed are state camps for national tournaments, institutional league and ‘Vision’ programme, under the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA).
“We are helpless,” DSA president Subhash Chopra said. “We tried our best to stop it but the MCD says it is the ministry’s function and nothing can be done about it.”
MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur said since President A P J Abdul Kalam would preside over the function the stadium was the best venue from the security angle. “We usually ensure that slots booked for sports events do not coincide with other events,” Mathur said. “But we could not make any changes in this case because it is an important event.”
Chopra, who took over the reins at DSA in August 2006 with several promises to resurrect the Capital’s footballing fortunes, had assured that DSA would have full control over the stadium. Told about his earlier promises, Chopra said: “What can I do if no one is concerned about sports? Yes, I promised to get control over Dr Ambedkar Stadium, but the issue has gone beyond me now.”
The All India Football Federation, which has Member of Parliament Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi at helm, is also sitting quite. Repeated e-mails to AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco elicited no response.
DSA secretary N K Bhatia said: “Our annual season starts from April, and it has already been delayed by MCD’s lack of cooperation. The problem has worsened because all alternates have been shut, with Commonwealth Games renovation currently going on.”
Incidentally, the MCD had earlier assured that the stadium would be used only for sports events.