Repeal HP Sports Act, says Dhumal

Shimla, Aug 6 (UNI) Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister P K Dhumal today demanded that the HP Sports (Registration and Regulation of Association) Bill be repealed in the interest of sports in the state.

Addressing a press conference here, he said state Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's statement on July 27 that the Sports Act would not be amended showed his indifference towards sports in general and the sportspersons in particular.

Mr Singh had on July 27 asserted that the sports act would not be amended and said that it was an attempt to cleanse the sports bodies in the state.

Mr Dhumal said the government, by not heeding to the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) advice of repealing the Act, was working against the interests of the sportspersons who would be prevented from participating in future National Games.

Observing that the act was an attack on the sports associations of the state, he said the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had in its general body meeting recently decided to debar sportspersons from those states that had enacted the act from participation in sporting events in future.

He said, no sporting events would be allotted to the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, which had enacted the Sports Act.

Mr Dhumal said that the IOA had already cancelled the allotment of National Games to Uttar Pradesh after the state government refused to repeal the Sports Act, which had been enacted after the Mulayam Singh Government took office.

Reading from the IOA's letter of July 25, this year, he said the association had already informed the state government of their general body's decision to prevent sportspersons of the state from participating in any event.

He said the state government's insistence of not repealing the act showed its indifferent attitude towards the sportspersons of the state.

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