The Union government has once again let down West Bengal, this time failing to release funds for the Commonwealth Volleyball Championships now being held here.
The West Bengal Volleyball Association (WBVA) had sought financial assistance from the state’s sports department for the Rs 5.7 crore event, being held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
The government had forwarded the request to the Union sports ministry. “We had sought Rs 4 crore to host the second edition of the championship, but the Union sports ministry has not processed the file,” said Rathin Roy Chowdhury, joint organising secretary of the championship.
He said Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi are trying to get the funds released.
“We have heard that Union finance minister P Chidambaram has also asked his department to get it done as soon as possible. But the file has not been moved from sports to finance department,” Roy Chowdhury said.
Recently, the Congress-led UPA government had let down the state for the Indo-Bangla Games hosted by the Bengal Olympic Association. Union sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, after committing Rs 5 crore, had released only Rs 1.5 crore, and that too after several representations.
At that time, the state had pointed out that Punjab had been given Rs 5 crore to host the Pakistan-Punjab games in 2004.
For the volleyball championships now under way, the state’s sports department had sanctioned Rs 3 crore and released Rs 1.3 crore. The prize money is $20,000.