Ministry wants access to Delhi Golf Club

Sabi Hussain

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 6

The Sports Ministry has intensified its efforts to get access to the sprawling Delhi Golf Club (DGC) facility in the heart of the Capital for training young Indian golfers for multi-sport events.

The Sports Ministry has written a letter to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) — under whose ambit the DGC falls — demanding that the 180-acre facility be made available to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Golf Union (IGU) for holding regular training sessions to prepare young golfers for the Olympics and the Asian Games.

Besides, the SAI and the IGU would be holding different age-group competitions at the DGC; there is also a plan to set up an academy there. The IGU is recognised by the Ministry as the national federation for golf.

The Sports Ministry was of the view that since the DGC had been built on “public land” with the prime objective of promoting golf, the DGC management shouldn’t be allowed to run the club as its personal fiefdom for the “benefit and interest” of the privileged class.  

Sports Minister Vijay Goel, in his letter to his MoUD counterpart M Venkaiah Naidu, wrote that there is a bright chance of India winning a medal in golf at the future Summer Games and there’s a need to develop the game as an Olympics discipline. 

“The discipline is already part of the Asian Games. Our golfers have been performing well at international events. Many countries have the International Standard Golf Courses to train their golfers for the Olympic Games, which is not the case with India. The DGC is in accordance with the international standard. We need to use the facility to train our young golfers,” Goel said in the letter.

The Ministry also wants the MoUD to direct other golf clubs, in Noida, Chandigarh and Bengaluru, to allow the SAI and the IGU to use certain parts of their facilities for holding amateur tournaments. “For this purpose, these clubs shouldn’t charge any money from the SAI and the IGU,” the letter added.  

According to a Sports Ministry official, the DGC land has been given on an annual soft lease of Rs 5 lakh. “The DGC has been earning close to Rs 30-40 crore by hosting private tournaments. The DGC has become a member-exclusive club and it’s not allowing the Ministry to use the facility. We know that influential politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists are members of the club,” the official added.