Vehicles parked on athletic track at Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex (Source: ANI) National Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and other Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders drew social media ire after pictures of their cars parked on a sports stadium race track in Pune went viral.
On Saturday, the former Indian Olympics Association chief Pawar, State Sports Minister Sunil Kedar and Minister of State Aditi Tatkare visited Pune’s Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex to review the work of the under-construction International Sports University.
While officials said that they gave the permission of parking only one vehicle on the racetrack as Pawar had trouble walking, pictures shared by BJP MLA from Pune’s Shivajinagar showed a number of cars parked on the athletic track.
The cars were reportedly parked until the meeting ended.
Vehicles were allowed to be parked on cemented tracks as Pawar Sahab had an issue with his leg. It was allowed so that he doesn’t face problem in walking: Maharashtra Sports Commissioner to ANI on VVIPs’ cars parked on athletes’ race track in Pune’s Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex pic.twitter.com/P4Zm9KtQQs
— ANI (@ANI) June 27, 2021
Post the incident, the Pune administration put out a statement of apology. “The incident has been noted by the Sports Minister and instructions have been issued to make sure that such an incident is not repeated again. Going forward it will be made sure that vehicles are not allowed at an athletic track,” the Pune District Information Officer said in a statement.
The department also said the sports minister has taken note of the incident and instructions have been issued to make sure that vehicles are not allowed at the athletic track.
I’m personally very sad to see such disrespect for sports and sporting ethics in our country. https://t.co/XV47LRckmJ
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) June 27, 2021
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju called the incident a ‘disrespect’ of sports facilities and ethics in the country. “I’m personally very sad to see such disrespect for sports and sporting ethics in our country,” Rijiju tweeted. “As it is we are lacking in sufficient sports facilities in our country. All the sports centers need proper care.”
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