Non-players selected for games with the help of a few PETs and PD's in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: The indiscriminate allotment of sports events to various districts by the AP School Games Federation (APSGF) has drawn the attention of the vigilance department.

Following complaints that the APSGF has been reportedly encouraging a few physical education teachers (PETs) and physical directors (PDs) to indulge in corrupt activities, the quality of the tournaments has drastically come down.

Interestingly, non-players are also taking part in the selection trials with the help of a few PETs and PDs, which is even in the notice of the district education officers (DEO) office. This largescale organised corruption in the sports discipline has so far not come to light.

The usual process of identifying and organising the sports events or tournaments at the state level will be decided by the state organising secretary of the APSGF.

At the district level, APSGF’s district organising secretary will take care of the activities to be taken up from time to time with intimation to the office of the DEO and also to the state organising secretary of the APSGF.

The initial meeting of allocating the state-level sports tournaments will be organised by the school education commissioner once in two years and each district organising secretary of the APSGF has to attend the meeting with their expression of interest about the tournament in which they are interested with an authentication letter from the DEOs of the respective districts.

Later part is crucial, where the district organising secretaries have to play a vital role, and this is the area where largescale corrupt practices are reportedly going on. The major allegation is that non-players are being picked up by a few district secretaries and are being sent to state sports tournaments.

In the second step, these non-performing extra players will be included in the state teams of various disciplines.

In this process, huge money transactions are reportedly taking place, and when asked about it, Krishna district education officer A. Subba Reddy clarified that he would not entertain any such irregularities under any circumstances.

The DEO also said that picking up of non-players for the district teams and subsequently to the state teams was not in his notice as there is a stringent selection process. However, he has clarified that any such deviation would be dealt with seriously.