Six years after they were allotted to Jharkhand, the 34th National Games, originally slated for November 2007 and rescheduled thrice since, have been postponed again for an all too familiar reason: infrastructure.

In its steering committee meeting on Saturday, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) deemed that the state wasn’t in a position to host the Games as planned from February 15-28, and decided to defer the event till June. However, the latest leeway could cost the organisers — the Jharkhand Olympic Association — dearly, as various state units, irked by the procrastination, are asking for compensation.

It is learnt that a number of state units have already booked tickets for their athletes and officials and now want the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) to bear the cost of cancellation, which is estimated to be over Rs 50 lakh. As per the Memorandum of Understanding between the JAO and IOA, the host will have to foot the bills of the various state affiliates in case of an exigency. “This (compensating) is a universal practice and is part of the deal that the host association signs when the games are allotted to it,” the secretary of one of the state associations told The Sunday Express on the condition of anonymity.

Blame game

Meanwhile, the organisers insisted it wasn’t their fault this time. While the IOA review committee was of the view that the infrastructure at venues in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad wasn’t ready, the Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC) claimed it could’ve hosted the Games next month, but for the political instability in the state.

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