The Union ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises is learnt to have told central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to use discretion before giving away sponsorship money for the Commonwealth Games (CWG). The directive follows allegations of corruption surrounding the event.
The CPSEs have been told to verify how their money would be utilised, and that it is not mandatory for them to sponsor the Games, sources told DNA. The secretary, Bhaskar Chatterjee, has already communicated the message to the CPSEs, though the minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, may issue a letter too.
The NTPC and the Power Grid Corporation have already held back a bulk of their sponsorship money. Sponsorship money from the CPSEs was estimated at Rs260 crore.
The Deshmukh ministry’s tough stand is despite a meeting chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday morningm which came to the conclusion that the Games are a matter of national pride and all efforts should be made to hold them successfully.
Sources said that on May 17, CWG organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi wrote a letter to Deshmukh seeking his cooperation for sponsorship. Subsequently, Chatterjee wrote to 19 CPSEs on June 22, saying promotion of sports is part of their corporate social responsibility, and so they should back the Games. Ministry sources said the corruption allegations related to the Games had not surfaced then.
However, the railway ministry, which too is a Games partner, has maintained that it is committed to giving its sponsorship money of Rs100 crore. But the minister, Mamata Banerjee, told Parliament on Thursday that “the funds should be utilised properly”.
