Reflecting the sorry state of affairs in state cricket, the J&K senior women’s team members had to spend 12 hours at Kolkatta Airport as J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) failed to provide them accommodation.
The JKCA deputed its senior women’s team for the tournament that was scheduled to be held in Agartala, Tripura, from February 20. J&K team left from Jammu on February 18 at 2 PM and reached Delhi at 4 PM. On the same day, half of the group members were given Delhi-Kolkatta flight tickets while as the others were given Delhi-Ahmadabad tickets.
One of the groups reached Kolkatta at 10 PM while as other made it to Ahmedabad at around 9:30 PM. Both groups had to take Kolkatta-Agartala flight next morning at 10:30. It meant that Kolkatta group members had spare time of more than 12 hours while as Ahmadabad group had to take another flight to reach Kolkatta to join rest of the team members. It was all messed up, and added to that, the team’s match was very next day against Punjab.
The JKCA failed to provide accommodation to the group in Kolkatta and players had to spend 12 hours at the airport.
“We were made to take multiple flights with no rest. Such was the mess and unruly behaviour from JKCA that one group that had spare time of more than 12 hours were forced to spend night at airport. We slept on the floor for whole night and there was no one from JKCA who cared,” said one of the players.
Next morning other group joined the team at Kolkatta and they headed to Agartala and very next day they had to face Punjab side for their first match.
“It is pathetic and total unprofessional. We were treated like cattle who were kicked from one airport to other and then made to spend night at airport. We were in travel for 36 hours and then played match very next day,” she further said.
Another player accused JKCA of unprofessionalism “who don’t know what they are doing.”
“First they made messy plan by arranging tickets haphazardly. The same team was separated into two groups, made to take multiple flights. Then when one expected players to be taken to hotel who had more than 12 hours, they were not provided so. The current JKCA is run by a single man who is helped by clerks. Everything from hotel to air tickets is done by those clerks who don’t care about player welfare,” said another player.
The photograph of J&K players sleeping at airport floor in Kolkatta has got viral on social media and everyone is demanding enquiry into the messy affairs. The photo was shared hundreds of times on Twitter and Facebook.