New Delhi: Sports Minister MS Gill on Monday
came to national hockey coach Jose Brasa's aid and asked the
Sports Authority of India to expedite the purchase of the
equipments sought by the Spaniard.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the national
camp in Pune, Brasa rued his demand for some basic equipments
had fallen on deaf ears.
Sports Ministry sources told reporters that Gill called SAI
Director General Sayan Chatterjee today and asked him to look
into Brasa's grievances.
"The Minister has taken note of all that appeared in the
media about equipments. He has instructed DG, SAI to expedite
the equipment procurement process," the source said.
Brasa's main allegation was that he had asked for basic
equipments like laptops, GPS software, soft balls and
heart-rate monitoring machine but all he got was promise and
nothing else.
SAI Joint Secretary and Special Officer for Commonwealth
Games Pravir Krishn, however, blamed the delay on lukewarm
response from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).
"The government has put in place a system which we cannot
bypass. Hockey India (HI) and the Chief Coach (Brasa) have
asked for equipments worth Rs 66 lakh and they have identified
some OEMs from Europe, including Spain.”
"Now as is the process, we issued tender in September but
out of 13, only three have replied within the 21-day deadline.
So I talked to the HI President (AK Mattoo) and asked him to
give us alternatives. Now what else can we do?" he said.
Krishn made it clear that online purchase was just not an
option under the norms.
Both the Spanish coach and HI have been asked to acquaint
themselves with the government's procurement process, he
added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 16, 2009, 23:04