Blame Tawadkar for mess in sports: Cong

MAPUSA: Congress has charged sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar for the sorry state of affairs in the sports department. Congress spokesperson Trajano D’Mello in reference to the death of Ishaan Shetyeallegedly by drowning at the swimming pool maintained by the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) under the sports ministry, said that having a part time in-charge at the sports complex at a high-risk area such as the swimming pool itself is a criminal offence and police should book the responsible person.
Ishaan Shetye, 23, the only son of a prominent businessman and resident of Karaswada, Mapusa, drowned at the swimming pool at the government sports complex at Peddem in Mapusa on Sunday evening.
Shetye, after swimming in the pool for about 45 minutes, started feeling uneasy while in the water and started losing control over his body and started drowning in deep water. The lifeguards present at the pool rescued him and gave him artificial respiration. He was rushed to the district hospital by the 108 ambulance.
At the district hospital, he was declared brought dead by the doctors after examining him. D’Mello, addressing a press conference in Mapusa on Monday, said that the incident has sounded warning bells towards the lethargic attitude in the sports department.
D’Mello said that the sports department and SAG is absolutely disorganized. “With the functioning under sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar, there is more harm than good to the sports activity in the state ,” he said.
D’Mello said that sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar, under whom the SAG functions, has shown absolute insensitivity towards the swimming pool functioning as the pool is a high-risk area.
“The Peddem swimming pool always had a full-time officer as in-charge because of its delicate maintenance and high risk involved at every movement for the functioning of the pool. As of today, a cricket coach Anil Arolkar has been given additional charge as in-charge of the Peddem swimming pool. Having a person as parttime in-charge of the Peddem swimming pool, itself, in my opinion, is a criminal negligence of a highly-sensitive area,” D’Mello said.
The person responsible for not appointing a full time in-charge of the pool should be booked for criminal negligence, D’Mello, who is a regular-goer at Peddem pool, said.
Police sources said that the postmortem has been conducted and the cause of death is due to drowning. The body has been handed over to the relatives of the family and the final rites were performed on Monday. Mapusa police have registered the case of unnatural death and are further investigating the case.