PATIALA: With two days to go, the annual kabaddi tournament at the ancestral village of late SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra has run into rough weather.
Organized every year by the Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra Charitable Trust a month before the death anniversary of the Akali leader (March 31), the two-day tournament scheduled to begin on March 2 is now in trouble over the venue, as the panchayat has locked the Tohra village stadium, and pro cured court orders against holding the event there.
Satwinder Singh – a former village sarpanch, SGPC member, and also member of the trust – said: “We got permission to organize this tournament from the Patiala deputy commissioner a month ago. But when on Saturday we came to make the arrangements, we found the stadium locked. On enquiring, we were told Tohra Sahib’s family did not want us to organize the tournament there.”
However, Tohra’s grandson Harinder Pal Singh denied any role in the matter. “The rift is between the panchayat and the trust, we have nothing to do with it,” he claimed.
Present sarpanch Bahadul Singh said Satwinder Singh only wanted political mileage out of the tournament. He alleged the event last year was badly managed and a “song and dance programme” organized during the tournament had given a bad name to the village.
“We do not want to be associated with it. The trust can organize the tournament on its own at some other venue, we will not interfere,” he added.
As an alternative, Mohinder Pal Singh, an associate of Tohra, has offered to clear five acres of his wheat crop – which is yet to mature – to hold the tournament, in which 20 teams and 12 kabaddi academies from India and abroad is expected to take part. While the first prize is Rs 1 lakh, every team will be paid Rs 20,000 for participation.
While Tohra was alive, he had intervened to have Satwinder Singh elected sarpanch against Bahadur Singh. “Now, Bahadur Singh is taking revenge,” Satwinder Singh alleged.
SOURCE-HT
