EARLY July, the Karnataka Government prepared a list of 24 MLAs and bureaucrats to visit Atlanta on a 20 day jaunt. The purpose: to study the conduct of the Olympics and borrow expertise to host the National Games in Bangalore and Mysore later this year.
Politicians and bureaucrats lobbied hard to hop on to the flight. The list grew, the final figure standing at 42, including four spouses. The total cost, at $200 per person per day, Rs 80 lakh. The tab was to be picked up by the National in Games Committee.
A series of exposes in The Indian Express , however, scuttled the plan. The Karnataka delegation hadn't made any hotel reservations, neither did they buy tickets for the various events. Exactly three tickets had been purchased—only for the Opening Ceremony.
The delegation had big travel plans. The 42 were to go on a sight-seeing tour of the US, with stops at Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Disneyland and San Diego. Also, on the cards was a three-day cruise in Mexico. On the way back, several members had scheduled stopovers in Europe.
The revelations led to the filing of a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court by a citizens' group calling for a halt to the jaunt as it was wasteful expenditure of tax payers' money. The infrastructure for the much-postponed National Games, incidentally, is still not ready, and Karnataka has defaulted in payments.
Stumped, Chief Minister J.H. Patel had no option but to scrap the trip.
Ultimately, a nine-member team, comprising the minister of state for sport, and officials of the Sports Authority of Karnataka left to study the Olympics. Joining them there were the sports minister and sports secretary of Madhya Pradesh, which will host the National Games after Karnataka.
