WGAI blames IGU for golfer Aditi missing Arjuna award
New Delhi, Sep 25 : In a scathing attack on the Indian Golf Union for failing to nominate Aditi Ashok for this year's Arjuna award, the Women's Golf Association of India (WGAI) on Tuesday said it will approach Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore while not ruling out the possibility of a parallel body for governing women's golf in the country.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the 12th edition of the Hero Indian Open, WGAI Secretary General Champika Sayal said she was shocked to not find teenaged Aditi's name among the list of 20 Arjuna awardees, who were conferred the awards at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Tuesday.
"We were shocked to know that Aditi's name was not there in the Arjuna Awards list. In fact, we wanted her to be nominated immediately after the Rio Olympics but that was not done," she said.
Sayal alleged that the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the governing body for the sport in the country, had given a "bizarre" reason of "two athletes from the same sport can't be nominated for the award" after the WGAI questioned the absence of Aditi's name from the Arjuna award list.
"The fact is a deserving player has been denied the Arjuna award and that's a massive loss. The IGU is not doing anything and at the same time it is not willing to give the charge," she said.
"We don't get access to what is happening in IGU, no meetings, no circulars. Unfortunately, when we see the sport is not being developed we can't do anything," she added.
However, on being questioned, IGU Director General Major General Bibhuti Bhushan (Retd) shifted the blame on the golfer, saying she did not sign the form required for nomination.
"We recommended two names this year -- Shubhankar Sharma and Aditi. But according to the process, you send the form to the player, so they can sign it. We waited till the last day, Shubhankar signed the form but Aditi did not," he said.
This year, Shubhankar is the only recipient of the Arjuna award from the discipline.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
