The newly-formed National Democratic Alliance government in Andhra Pradesh led by Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is planning to order a probe into the conduct of mega sports event – “Aadudam Andhra” conducted by the previous YSR Congress party government a few months before the recent assembly elections in the state.
State sports and youth affairs minister M Ramprasad Reddy told reporters that there had been several complaints about the way Aadudam Andhra programme was conducted only to make a quick buck, rather than really encouraging the sports among the children.
According to the complaints received by the government, while the Jagan government had released Rs 130 crore at the rate of Rs 10 crore to each erstwhile combined district, not even Rs 30 crore was spent on the events.
“Sports kits of very poor quality were procured at a very high rate. So was the case with T-shirts. Thousands of T-shirts were said to be bought at a high rate of Rs 500 to Rs 600 each. There was no accountability and no tenders,” a source said, adding that cricket bats, kits and volleyballs are of poor quality and qualified referees were also not appointed.
Even the games were conducted without proper planning and norms and the players were not divided based on age.
“The events were used to deliver political speeches, rather than conducting sports events,” a source said.
