NSC officials indulge in blame game

KATHMANDU, July 10: A day after the office of National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary Hari Babu Chaudhary was vandalized, vice-president Pitambar Timilsina and member Kishor Rai on Saturday have launched a verbal war against Chaudhary. They have held member-secretary Chaudhary responsible for the vandalism that took place in his office on Friday.



Demanding that the Eastern Regional Stadium be built in Dharan, a group led by Timilsina and Rai had vandalized Chaudhary´s office on Friday. [break]



"One of our delegation members was attacked while we were discussing some serious issues. There was a crowd in the office room. We think the member-secretary conspired against us," said Timilsina during a press conference on Saturday.



"Police had been deployed around the NSC premises before the incident, which suggests Chaudhary had hatched a plot to frame us," said Timilsina.



Rai and Timilsina want the Eastern Regional Stadium to be built in Dharan. "We are aware of the dispute over whether the stadium should be built in Itahari or Dharan. We are also in favor of building a stadium in Itahari, but it would be logical if the regional stadium is built in Dharan," said Rai.



Rai and Timilsina also accused Chaudhary of taking arbitrary decisions. "Chaudhary had called a board meeting on June 25 and the meeting was abruptly halted after few hours´ discussion. We have not been called again for the meeting and he has not shown us the minute of the meeting," Rai alleged Chaudhary.



They have also accused Chaudhary of financial irregularities and forwarded a six-point demand to the board as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports. They have also demanded that the minute of the last board meeting be made public.



However, Chaudhary, commenting on the incident, claimed that the NSC vice president and member vandalized his office to discourage him.



“If they were dissatisfied with me, they should have raised all the issues in the board meeting. But they had ulterior motives as they came in a group and vandalized the office.” Chaudhary said.



This was the second time that NSC has been vandalized in a month.



Meanwhile, Nepal National and International Players Association condemned the incident and demanded independent investigation into the incident.



Indefinite strike in Itahari



Meanwhile, the locals of Itahari have decided to launch an indefinite strike from Monday, demanding that the decision to build regional stadium in Itahari be taken at the earliest.



The construction of the stadium has been thrown in a limbo owing to the ongoing dispute over whether it should be built in Dharan, Itahari or Inaruwa.

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