Having stirred up a storm transferring senior officials in the top rungs of the Sports Authority of India, its director general Jiji Thomson is hell bent on cleaning up the rot in the Union Government’s sporting arm.
Speaking to TNIE after a visit to the SAI office in Gandhinagar on Monday, Thomson admitted that the government agency responsible for the development of sports in the country was in a terrible state.
“SAI is in a mess,” the SAI director general said over phone.
“It needs a thorough clean up. I have travelled extensively across the country since I took over as the director general three months ago. To my horror, I have found that there is very little constructive activity happening in SAI. There is no proper allocation of work, no system to monitor the coaches, officials or athletes. We just don’t know who is doing what. It just won’t work. Indian sports won’t get anywhere with such a pathetic way of functioning. I have made it clear that things cannot be allowed to go on like that.”
He was emphatic that the decision to effect a series of transfers was aimed at reorganising the body for better efficiency.
“This is the start of an effort to make SAI more vibrant and result-oriented. I want to bring a new system to fully utilise the resources, even if limited, and make everyone accountable. There are so many people in the SAI who have some influence over our leaders and high officials. They somehow manage to get key appointments in key places so that they can continue to remain within their comfort zones, especially in Delhi. If somebody gets promoted from the post of director to regional director, he should be working in the regions to develop sports rather than sit in the comforts of the Delhi office doing nothing worthwhile. Unfortunately, that’s what’s been happening in SAI,” he pointed out.
He said he had discussed these issues within the Sports Ministry before taking the broom in his hands.
“I had spoken to the Sports Minister (Jitendra Singh) and told him that we need to take strict measures to clean up the system. He has agreed and has backed me to carry out the new initiatives. I know people will come after me now but I am not bothered. The first thing I said when I took over as the director general was that we should clean up our own house,” Thomson said.
On his visit to Gandhinagar, he said: “I made a surprise visit to the SAI Office and I found that around 50 percent of the staff there did not turn up for duty even till noon. A kabaddi coach hasn’t reported for six months and a handball coach had been playing truant for the past four years. He comes once in while and has been availing earned leave for the rest of the days.”