Even as uncertainty over the 36th National Games looms large, the State government has said it will not pay the Rs 10 crore penalty, imposed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for repeated postponement of the sports event. Dy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar, who holds the sports portfolio, said they have written to IOA urging it to waive off the penalty. He said that the govt has approached IOA seeking to provide minimum five to six months lead time to host the National Games. “The scheduled dates of March-April to host the National Games had to be rescheduled due to Lok Sabha as well as by-polls in various Assembly segments. The IOA reverted on our proposal only on July 22, 2019, and with just 100 days left for the preparations, we have requested IOA to accordingly relook at the dates announced and to provide a minimum of 5-6 months lead time to Goa for Games and State team’s preparations,” he said.
He added that when the new govt took over in 2017, the government in consultation with IOA had decided to host the Games in March-April 2019. “In January 2019, after understanding that the Assembly bye-elections, Parliamentary elections were to be scheduled and the  Code of Conduct was to be in-force for a long period of time, State government requested IOA to postpone the hosting of the Games to November 2019. But IOA reverted with our proposal on July 22,” he said.