Mokokchung, July 11 (MTNews): The Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) said today that it is “pained” by the statement made by NOA Vice President, K Kire, who had alleged that the association is running without transparency.
A press release from the NOA media team said that Kire’s statement had a “lot of misinformation,” adding that the matters which have been raised by him should have been taken up within the appropriate forum of the NOA like the Executive Meetings and the AGMs.”
The vice-president of NOA, K Kire, had yesterday alleged that no collective decisions were taken in NOA and that he would disassociate from the association “if the NOA is to function as an individual property.” Kire, who is also a former DGP, had said that all activities and decisions of the NOA “are being taken by one or a few individuals” and that the other members are kept in the dark. “NOA appears to be working by a dictator,” he had said, and questioned why officials are elected at all if their voice is not to be heard. Kire had also alleged that there were irregularities in NOA’s finance management with no proper audits, that NOA logo was circulated without prior notice of the members, that the NOA office “suddenly came up” without the knowledge of NOA office bearers, and that the Nagaland Police Sports Battalion was another issue which was never discussed in any of the forums. “I am not against it but rather in the manner this issue had gone around,” Kire had said.
In reply, the NOA said that the new team of office bearers has been functioning with “utmost transparency with utmost efforts to maintain best practices.” It informed that the NOA accounts are audited by a registered chartered accountant and all utilization documents and accounts are submitted to the concerned department of the State Government for further audits.
“His concern of past accounts related to the Nagaland Olympics of 2017 has all been submitted to the department in the form of utilization certificates and have been audited by the appropriate agencies. Our accounts are an open book for the authorized agencies to audit and check,” the NOA stated.
Further, the association said that the institution of the Nagaland Police Sports Battalion was a decision of the State Government as committed in the manifesto and the common minimum program and that the NOA has “nothing to do with it, but only to welcome and appreciate the wonderful policy initiative.”
Meanwhile on the NOA logo, the association stated that the earlier logo was “written in Hindi and therefore it was decided to use English in the logo with the Olympic motto of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together,’ which is used by all Olympic institutions universally.” “This matter was discussed and approved – that we will now use the logo which is written in English. No significant change was made,” it added.
The association further informed that the office complex of the NOA was made possible due to the State Government’s decision to allocate the complex to the NOA. The decision, it informed, was taken at the highest level of the State Government which underwent the approval of the State Land Acquisition Authority which comprises of the senior most members of the State Government and the cabinet members.
“It was not purchased and no financial transaction was made towards this purpose by the NOA. The sports fraternity is indeed grateful to the State Government for allocation of this complex to the NOA which has become an excellent asset to the sports arena as all sports associations are regularly using the facilities for its activities and events,” it said.
Further, the NOA said that its office and secretariat are “working round the clock with trained professionals in an efficient manner on all working days.” It meanwhile accused the NOA Vice President of “never attending a single day of office even though the complex consists of his office chamber.” “He has also not attended any meeting including executive meetings and even in the AGM and the office inauguration programme he left the complex before the proceedings could be completed,” it claimed.
The NOA said that all information on meetings, notices and NOA communiques are informed digitally and hard copies are kept in the office chambers of all the office bearers without fail. “If he had been attending office and the meetings, he would have been in full knowledge of the various programmes and meetings but unfortunately his unavailability to give time and efforts towards the functioning and responsibilities of the NOA seems to have created ignorance,” the NOA stated.
The NOA meanwhile reiterated that it is “pained to carry out this exercise of clarification,” however adding that “it is for the benefit of the stakeholders.
“We do not intend to make any further clarifications on this matter, in the greater interest of the image and reputation of our institution, and urge the gentleman to come to the NOA office for any information,” the NOA stated.
