KL Report

SRINAGAR

In a major blow to the cricketing activities in the state, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has blocked over Rs 60 crore due to the Jammu Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) as no accounts have been submitted to the BCCI for the past many years. The BCCI is also reportedly miffed with the JKCA as no headway has been made in the multi crore JKCA scam.

Reliable Sources told KNS that BCCI used to provide over 25-crore annually to the JKCA. Every year, there would be an increment of couple of crores to cover for inflation. The money is given by BCCI to all state associations for building quality infrastructure to support the game.

However, several major cricket activities of the state according to sources have been halted due to blockade of funds by BCCI to the JKCA.

Sources said the BCCI stopped the funds in the backdrop of a major scam that unearthed in JKCA last year. They said the JKCA has failed to give audit to BCCI about the spending of funds over these years.

“The BCCI was unhappy over the pending inquiry of JKCA over the multi-crore scam of 2012. Even though two years have passed, but nobody knows the fate of the inquiry,” sources said.

He said no charge sheet has been filed yet, this despite the fact the FIR in the scam was registered last year. Officials said many sports activities have been suspended since last year due to paucity of funds.

In the early 2012, a multi-crore scam was unearthed in JKCA, in which two senior officials of the Association were sacked for “swindling” crores of rupees of JKCA, which were meant for development of cricket in the state.

Both these senior officials were considered close confidantes of JKCA President and Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah. After the scam came to fore, the PDP had also demanded Dr Farooq’s resignation.

In March 2012, former Chairman JKCA Mohammad Aslam Goni was accused by the 62 JKCA working committee members for his “involvement” in the scam and demanded his resignation.

JKCA insiders claim game of cricket and its infrastructure growth in the region has been hit hard since last year due to “embezzlement” of Association funds.“We don’t understand why BCCI is not taking action against people who are at the helm of affairs of JKCA. The cricket activities have been affected since last year due to wrong doings committed by JKCA authorities,” sources said.

However senior official denied that cricket activities have been affected since last year, saying they had organized 100 percent cricket matches.

But, he confirmed that JKCA has not received any funds from BCCI since last year.

“How can BCCI release funds unless the investigation in last year scam is completed? Audit of accounts has not been completed yet. Now, we hope BCCI would release money very soon,” he added.

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