Kerala - Alappuzha   

Sports Council grant to be sought for Nehru Trophy

ALAPPUZHA: With expenses rising, the organisers of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race have decided to approach the State Sports Council for a grant of Rs.25 lakh.

The executive committee and general body of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society (NTBRS), which met at the Collectorate here on Monday, passed a resolution in this regard. The 56th edition of the internationally popular event will be held in August.

Last year, the event was accorded sports status and this has been cited as a basis for the demand.

The meeting on Monday also saw the accounts for the event’s 2007 edition being presented and passed.

The accounts were not without controversy, with the Society suffering a loss of Rs.7,39,556, in spite of the event being “successful.” Categorised as “expenditure over income,” the loss is a rare phenomenon for the NTBRS in its 56-year history.

Certain observations of the audit firm, P. Venugopal & Co., also indicated that all was not well with the event’s management.

In the notes forming part of the audit report, it was pointed out that “effective steps were not taken to collect the unrealised portion of advertisement charges due since 1990.”

It was also pointed out that “effective steps were not taken to collect the unrealised portion of ticket charges of previous years, totalling to Rs.61,064.”

The auditor also pointed out that some of the expenses were not supported by proper bills or vouchers, such as pandal and pavilion (Infrastructure Committee) office expenses.

The Rs.5 lakh grant from the government is yet to be received.

The auditor also mentioned that registers maintained by the Society were “not satisfactory and not at all updated.”

“Most of the registers were not available for verification at the time of audit,” the auditor noted.

Various quarters owed the NTBRS Rs.16,49,283, most of it as sponsorship fee, as per the balance sheet presented in the meeting.

NTBRS chairman and District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan, C.K. Sadashivan, MLA, and others were present.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sports Council grant to be sought for Nehru Trophy
Coir sector urged to become more competitive

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu