What’s the story?
Sports minister Vijay Goel made a surprise visit at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium in Delhi, where the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championship is underway. There had been multiple complaints by Indian and foreign athletes regarding dirty restrooms, mosquitoes, and messy surroundings, after which the minister himself came down to look into the matter.
With a team of Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials behind him, Goel inspected each washroom individually, out which many were in poor condition and littered with tissue papers. He himself picked them up and began cleaning the mess, after which he spoke to the officials who were responsible.
The minister’s personal assistant was also there and he kept taking note of everything and clicked pictures of the areas of concern. Goel said that a committee looking after the utilization of stadiums will also look at the overall tidiness of the venues.
“I regularly visit stadiums, except this one. I had come here two-three days ago. The administrators are saying that the responsibility is with the other agency but the foreigners who are coming for competition will not see whether it's a mistake of A or B. The players and others will go back with the impression about India and not about various agencies involved," said Goel.
In case you didn’t know
According to reports, the international athletes had launched a complaint with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) after they were dissatisfied with the state of the facilities in the stadium. In some cases, wrestlers even had to urinate and defecate in the open as the restrooms were out of order.
The heart of the matter
The minister said there was no point in entering into a blame game between different groups. He spoke about how it is everyone’s duty to keep the stadium clean and the importance of working together to resolve such issues.
He also chided the SAI, saying that it should not depend on others and should take care of cleanliness on its own. Goel stated that the maintenance of facilities should take place around the year and not just during events.
What’s next?
Earlier, the minister had also visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, National Stadium and the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex in Delhi as well. It remains to be seen whether further follow-up of the situation will be done in the near future.
Author’s take
It is an extremely embarrassing that basic facilities are not provided in such an important and prestigious international event. However, Goel’s visit is a good sign and hopefully, such incidents will not take place in the future.
