Guwahati/New Delhi, June 10: Assam’s preparations for the 2005 National Games received a major jolt with the only private firm in talks with Dispur to construct the National Games village having almost thrown in the towel. The back-off comes in less than 24 hours of the cabinet approving the land price recommended by the committee headed by chief secretary J.P. Rajkhowa.
The cabinet last night approved the Rs 5 lakh per katha recommended by the Rajkhowa Committee for the 70 bigha plot belonging to the water resources department on which the village is supposed to come up.
Sources said representatives of the Asom Pragati Infrastructure Limited, which had submitted a proposal to construct the village, visited the office of the National Games secretariat and informally apprised the authorities about their inability to go ahead with project. They argued that it has become non-viable because of the high cost of land and the adverse publicity the project had attracted.
This morning, Rajkhowa called up the secretariat, seeking a reply from Pragati by tomorrow. Though neither the secretariat officials nor Pragati representatives were available for comment, sources said the secretariat has communicated the cabinet’s decision to Pragati. The company will have to respond formally either way before the secretariat can make a formal announcement or invite fresh proposals.
Sources, however, conceded that the Games have plunged into a major crisis because a village, no matter its shape and size, was a must or else the Indian Olympic Association reserves the right to withdraw the mega event from Assam.
“Today’s development is nothing short of a catastrophe. The whole process lasted nearly two months and now we are back to square one. We will have to find an alternative soon,” the source said.
Nearly 800 apartments will have to be constructed within less than 500 days to accommodate 10,000 athletes and technical officials during the Games in November next year. When the talks started, the district administration (metropolitan) had recommended Rs 71,000 per katha according to the prevailing base price, which was opposed by certain quarters as being far less for a purely commercial venture.
Rattled by the furore, Rajkhowa constituted a committee, headed by additional chief secretary C. Babu Rajeev. By this time, the base price for land in Guwahati had almost doubled. Rajeev then went by the new base price and recommended Rs 1.3 lakh per katha.
When the file was placed before the chief minister for his approval, he asked the chief secretary to finalise the price and place the same before the cabinet for approval.
A local consortium and Housefed, in the meantime, had submitted a fresh proposal offering a handsome amount for the plot. Since Pragati had been shortlisted, Rajkhowa recommended Rs 5 lakh per katha.
While Dispur is marshalling its resources to put the project back on track, it demanded nearly Rs 20 crore from the Centre for the Games to meet escalating costs.
This is the second time the Games are being held in the Northeast.
While Doner has been approached for an additional Rs 10 crore, the demand for an equal amount will be placed before the sports and youth affairs ministry, Assam sports minister Robin Bordoloi said in New Delhi.