Neither averse to the idea nor party to it right now, the Sports Ministry has sought a detailed proposal from the central government about its plans to privatise premium sports infrastructure like the iconic Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium here.
As part of its plan to monetise land and assets for meetingthe highest-ever divestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion, the government hasplans to throw open Indian Railways’ heritage routes and stadia, including theJLN, for private sector investments.
“Yes, one of the members of Niti Aayog has mooted theidea during a recent meeting but our stand remains clear, we want the stadiumsto be utilised only for the country’s elite sportspersons,” a top SportsMinistry official told PTI.
Besides JLN, the government has suggested that two morestadia — the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex (Delhi) and the Karnail SinghStadium (Delhi) — be put under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The JLN is a multi-purpose facility which has hosted theathletics events of the 2010 Commonwealth Games besides matches of the 2017Under-17 football World Cup.
The IGI is an indoor facility which has hosted internationaland national events for boxing and wrestling. The Karnail Singh stadium is avenue for Ranji Trophy cricket matches and is the home ground of the Railwaysteam.
The official said that the Sports Ministry wants to have a clearidea about the government’s plans on how the stadiums will be utilised onceprivate players enter the scene.
“We have sought a detailed proposal from the Niti Aayogon how the infrastructure will be utilised under the PPP model. We are neitheragainst the idea nor agreeing to it for now as we want the stadiums to beutilised only for elite sports,” he added.
The official further said the Sports Ministry is not goingto compromise the interest of the athletes in this regard.
“The IGI stadium has the only world-class cyclingvelodrome in the country where elite sportspersons can train. The interest ofour athletes comes first,” he said.
The official said a final decision on this matter will onlybe taken after examining the proposal.
“Let them (Niti Ayog) give us the proposal first, wewill elaborately study it and see what is in the best interest of our athletes.We won’t take any decision which is against the country’s sportspersons,”he said.He revealed that two rounds of meeting in thisregard are already over but no new dates for further discussions have been setaside as of now.