Pargat: Revolt could have been averted

M.S. Unnikrishnan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10

Hockey Punjab secretary-general and ex-India captain Pargat Singh said the revolt by the Indian players at the national camp in Pune yesterday could have been averted with some timely action. He said with the World Cup Hockey Championship in Delhi barely two months away, the national campers should not be disturbed in any manner. “The players should not get into a negative mode with the World Cup only a few weeks away”, he said. He said the players’ demand of clearance of their dues amounting to Rs 5 or 10 lakh was nothing much, and the controversy was unnecessary. He said the players had some valid grouse that they were being denied their just dues by Hockey India.

“If they play for their organisations, like Oil India or ONGC, the players get a daily allowance of Rs 1000 per day. They thus stand to lose Rs 30,000 per month when they are not doing duty for their departmental teams”, Pargat explained. He said the players could be suitably compensated if Hockey India talked to their employers and found out a workable solution. “The matter can be sorted out without much difficulty”, Pargat asserted. Pargat, who camped in Delhi for six days, seeking affiliation of Hockey Punjab to Hockey India, has been asked to come to Delhi on Monday for further discussion.

Pargat felt that Indian hockey could regain its lost glory only if the people at the helm thought big, acted big. “We always wanted Punjab to contribute for Indian hockey”, he stated. He said if cricket in India was running smoothly and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) elections were held without much of a controversy, it was due to the presence of powerful people at top. “There are at least five-six Chief Ministers who are closely associated with the BCCI, and hockey can transform itself if some top people, like the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka and Munjal of Hero Honda, are involved in the running of the game”, Pargat noted.

He said the creation of a wonderufl hockey facility at the Burlton Park in Jalandhar, which will have 26 air conditioned rooms with clean bath rooms and other facilities befitting an international stadium, was due to the “involvement of top people in the construction of the stadium.”

He said the tragedy of Indian hockey was that the “level of thinking” was very low. “If you think high, you can achieve high goals”, Pargat noted. He said anybody who wanted to promote hockey should be welcomed into the hockey fold. “There should not be any hard and fast rule in the involvement of people who have the good of Indian hockey in their hearts” Pargat opined.

“In any case, how many people you can keep out”, he wondered. Pargat said he met Hockey India officials Mattoo, Bhanot and Batra for the affiliation of Hockey Punjab into HI, but his week-long stay did not produce the desired results though he was hopeful that things would fall into place in his next visit to Delhi on January 11.