SHILLONG: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is doubtful if the state would be able to host the proposed National Games in 2022.
Talking to reporters after a meeting of the PAC here on Tuesday, a visibly agitated member, Zenith M Sangma, said that the government was yet to even prepare a blueprint for the National Games.
“We are afraid that Meghalaya would not be able to host the National Games,” Sangma said.
Echoing similar views, another member of the PAC, Himalaya Shangpliang, said that the government is not sure how much land is required for the proposed venue for hosting the event in Garo Hills.
“The government had identified the land at Dalmagre for construction of the second stadium in Garo Hills for the games. But the government is not sure how much land it would require,” he said.
Informing that the government has identified 64.34 acres of land for the construction of the main stadium at New Shillong Township, Shangpliang added that an amount of over Rs 2000 crore is being projected for hosting the event.
Asking the government to come up with a road map and a blueprint at the earliest for the state to have any chances of hosting the Games, the Committee observed that the Sports department has done no systematic work for the promotion and growth of sports in the state.
“The budget allocation compared to the preceding years is very meagre and many of the programmes for the development of sports had been done away with,” he added.
Golf course
The PAC has termed the construction of a golf course at Pongtung village near Pynursla as a wasteful expenditure.
Shangpliang said that the Tourism department has constructed the 9-hole golf course at an estimated cost of Rs 2.36 crore, but so far, the department has not been able to host even a single tournament at the venue. “Not even a single golfer has gone to play at Pontung,” Shangpliang said.
Pointing out that this is a clear case of wasteful expenditure of public money, he termed it as a wrong investment made by the department.
He informed that the PAC has given the department a month to come back and brief them on exactly what they want to do with the project.
On the Crowborough Hotel, he said that they have also enquired about its status. “In these past 29 years Crowborough Hotel has not been commissioned. But the Tourism department is hopeful of making it operational by next year,” Shangpliang said.
He also informed that the department has been given ten days to provide the PAC with a status note on the project.