Benefit poser on Bengal club dole

Mamata during the distribution of cheques to clubs at Netaji Indoor Stadium
in Calcutta on Wednesday. (Pradip Sanyal)

TT, 24 January 2019, Calcutta: The Mamata Banerjee government on Wednesday distributed funds among thousands of clubs for developing sporting infrastructure amid questions on whether the largesse was justified without proper monitoring.

While Rs 2 lakh each was given to 4,300 clubs, Rs 1 lakh each was provided to 10,648 clubs, which had received Rs 2 lakh earlier.

"We have so far spent more than Rs 600 crore on helping the clubs since 2011. We are carrying out the expenditure despite financial crisis as the clubs play an important role in maintaining harmony in the society. They also play a role in developing sporting infrastructure," the chief minister said during the programme organised to hand over cheques to the clubs at Netaji Indoor Stadium here.

As per the practice followed by the sports department since Trinamul came to power in 2011, a club would get Rs 2 lakh in the first year and Rs 1 lakh each in the next three years. Thus, a club gets Rs 5 lakh in a period of four years.

Senior officials said the ruling party had reaped benefits in the past few elections as clubs play an important role, particularly in rural areas.

But the key question of whether the clubs have been spending the money on creating sporting infrastructure has remained unanswered in the absence of any proper audit of the money spent on the clubs.

"The clubs were asked to submit utilisation certificates and audit reports for the previous funds. But in most cases, the clubs submitted an undertaking that the funds were used properly. This cannot be called a utilisation certificate. Still, the clubs continued to receive next installments from the government," said a senior government official.

"If more than 12,000 clubs which received funds till last year had utilised money properly, the picture in sports fields across the state would have been noticeable," the official added.

A section of finance department officials are worried over the increasing spending on the scheme.

Several officials said they also believed that clubs could play a role in preventing attempts to spread hatred in a locality, but identification of right clubs before the allocation of funds was important.

"The sports department has received several complaints that clubs, which have only registration numbers, are being given money as they have the recommendation from some ruling party MLAs. Most clubs don't have any infrastructure like sports ground or a land parcel. This has to be stopped and a proper inspection at the district level needs to be carried out before allotting funds to the clubs," said another official.