“Yes, we are in the red,” agreed supercop Mr. KPS Gill, the president of the
Indian Hockey Confederation. The former Punjab police chief was grilled by the
electronic and print media, which he addressed after the presentation ceremony
of the Premier Hockey League TIER II, in Hyderabad on Sunday, Jan 30, 2005. IHF,
as it is popularly known, is in a deep financial crisis and needs at least
Rs.200,000,00 to come out clean. “Imprudent financial management,’’ a member
roared during the EC meeting that preceded the AGM. “ Reportedly one member
from the South and one member from the North thoroughly grilled the
office-bearers about the alleged financial irregularities which are continuing
for the last five to seven years. From a deficit of Rs.50 lakhs, the pending
payments rose to a monstrous.2 crores, according to a member who wanted to
remain anonymous for obvious reasons. “Doordarshan has to pay us,’’ once we get
all the money we will clear the loans, Gill, answered without convincing anyone.

However, the AGM ended peacefully for the IHF office-bearers who were seen
smiling toward the end of the day after two days of hectic long-faced lobbying.
“The AGM was a success,’’ claimed a member from the ruling side as they felt
that the dissent was successfully snubbed. “They effectively made Mr.Batra shut
his mouth,’’ he claimed. But the fact is the internal bickering had a positive
sign when Gill announced that two committees were formed to look into these
matters. Mr Jesudanam, president of the Andhra Hockey Association, will head the
panel to oversee the preparations and conduct of the Senior Nationals which will
be held in clusters at different zones before the finals at Delhi from March 20
to 27. The other three-member committee would look into the financial aspects
and submit a report within 30 days.

Mr Gill was bombarded with questions by the media, which he termed as ignorant
and the major cause for the decline of the hockey in the country. The media
bashing by Gill took a back seat as the press conference turned into a humourous
event by a couple of journalists who responded with jokes to Mr Gill’s
statements and the president to became jovial before revealing the present
financial state of the federation.

The alarming disclosure came after a Hindi journalist asked him about the
outbursts by a vice-president who demanded transparency from the IHF and alleged
that several financial irregularities were ruining the game in the country. Gill
refuted the allegations and said that `transparency’ was a `cliched word’
created by the media. What do you mean by transparency, he questioned. And
played down the inner bickering. “Ours is a democratic set-up. In a family,
dissent is common thing. All the accounts were passed by the AGM,” he said. But
when a couple of scribes persisted, he stated that the federation is “in the
red”. To what tune, came another query like a quick short-corner bullet. But
Gill is not the one to reveal too much. He evaded with élan like a sound
goalie’s save and said he has to look into the figures.

But sources confirmed that IHF owes about Rs.1.92 crore to different people and
agencies. Some of the pending payments were 7-years old. It was also alleged
that IHF spent about Rs.60 lakhs on IHF Juniors, who took part in various
tournaments. “An amount of Rs.5 lakhs or so was written off, and that too came
up in the meeting,’’ the source revealed.
In the end it was a victory of sorts for the dissenters too who managed to
create awareness that all is not well with the financial situation of the
federation. Mr Batra, however, was miffed by the treatment he got and the way
his rivals pounced on him and silenced him. “I will take legal action. After
going to Delhi, I will file a case,’’ he roared.

The three-member committee will submit its report within 30 days while the panel
headed by Jesudanam will work on the format and the conduct of the senior
nationals. It was also decided that the Federation would bear all the costs of
the participating teams both food, board and travel after some members objected
the IHF suggestion that the teams should bear their own costs.
a s2h special