Pune: Former president of Rowing Federation of India (RFI) Rajlaxmi Singh Deo has termed as “unfair” the government’s submission in the Rajya Sabha that the body had failed to utilise the funds allocated to it for the financial 2024-25.In a written submission in the Upper House of the Parliament, the Centre, citing a set of data it had compiled, claimed that prominent national sports federations including the RFI had not spent even half the money provided for their sports programmes.“They didn’t give any sanctions, and they’re saying we didn’t utilise the money. It is very, very unfair on us,” Rajlaxmi told TOI over phone on Thursday.“They didn’t even fund the Nationals last year, the players had to bear the brunt of it. We had a Senior Nationals also last year, (for) which the players had to pay from the pocket.“For the Junior Nationals, (we) kept sending the proposal, they didn’t clear. And they didn’t clear any camp for the senior Asian Championships, so we could not participate.“We came last after being on the top for many years. We’ve been on the top right from 2008 in the juniors,” Rajlaxmi said.“So we didn’t get any exposure since the Asian Games (in 2023). We lost out on two years. So it’s not fair to say that we didn’t utilise the fund. The funds were not released to us.”In fact, in June last year, the RFI had sent a reminder letter to the Special Development Officer, in-charge of rowing with TOPS, about the long-pending proposals for national camps in preparation for Asian Indoor Championships for both seniors and juniors as well as participation in the Khelo India Women’s rowing league.RFI eventually managed to get a 21-day (much shorter duration) camp for junior rowers sanctioned and the team returned with a ninth-place finish, its worst ever result, from the Asian Junior (U-19 and U-23) Championships in China.“The women programme is in doldrums today,” Rajlaxmi, whose term ended in Feb 2024 but was asked to continue to hold charge by the Delhi High Court following a petition filed by the Delhi State rowing body against the RFI elections.She eventually handed over the charge to the new group of office-bearers after the Court disposed of the case in June this year.“The men continuously train and the women are spread out in four-five different cities. So the only way we can get them together is (by having) one central camp. That doesn’t happen 12 months a year.“Unless we get support for 12 months a year, we cannot achieve any results.”
