More than three years after the formation of Telangana State, bifurcaton blues still persist as far as the regularisation of services and granting annual increments to the coaching staff of the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) are concerned.
And, on Wednesday morning, it was a tale of two contrasts! Champion shuttler G. Jwala appealed to the Sports Minister Padma Rao Goud after the latter visited the Fateh Maidan Indoor Stadium in the company of former MLA D. Nagender, SATS chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy and the VC & MD A. Dinakar Babu, to renovate the indoor stadium which was once the hub of badminton activity in the city since 1970 under the tutelage of Dronacharya S.M. Arif. Then, a coaches delegation met the Sports Minister this morning to request their long-pending issue of regularisation to be resolved at the earliest. They are, in all about 35 across the State, recruited in three phases in 1993, 1999 and 2009 but not even being extended the Provident Fund facility. “Recently, one of the SATS coach Mallesh passed away in Warangal and now the family is in dire straits as there are no financial benefits for him who is on the rolls of SATS,” they explained. For his part, the Minister was very positive and felt that this issue should not crop up again and directed the officials to complete all the formalities to solve the problem.
Ironically, after the bifurcation, the coaches who moved over to Andhra Pradesh are even paid arrears running close to ₹ 6 lakh each and also their services were regularised through a Government Order. “When that Government with no funds can take such a bold and welcome decision, why we should be denied despite the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the Sports Minister being so positive,” questioned the coaches delegation.
Mr. A. Dinakar Babu, SATS VC & MD, informs The Hindu that he is in the final stages of submitting a report regarding the finances involved in this issue. And, as far as the indoor stadium is concerned, estimates are being prepared for the renovation of the wooden flooring and lighting and the venue will soon get a new look, top SATS official concluded.
