BCCI should come under RTI act: Maken

“When we talk about transparency and the RTI, it is about all the 66 sports disciplines including the BCCI. It is public money that they are dealing with and they should come out clean for their own benefit. Otherwise there will be a question mark on whatever good work they have done in the past,” Maken told reporters at the National Stadium while distributing cash awards among sportspersons. Maken, however, said that the challenge for him is to lay the revised sports bill before the cabinet, which had earlier rejected it during the last session of parliament.

“I am trying to present the bill again in the cabinet and get it passed during the winter session of parliament,” he said.

Maken said from next year the ministry will distribute cash prizes twice in a year to prevent backlog. “Today, we distributed around Rs 8 crore to athletes and coaches for their achievements since 2010. To avoid such delays we will be giving away awards twice every year. We will also make sure that coaches who play a huge role during the formative years of an athlete are also awarded.”