19 November,2016 05:34 PM IST | | Sundari Iyer
The Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) faced a new roadblock yesterday when the District Sports Office (DSO) stopped renovation work at their basketball courts in Azad Maidan for not having necessary permission in place
MSSA officials Esmero Figueiredo (right) & Nadim Memon (second right) oversee repair work at Azad Maidan. Pic /Pradeep Dhivar
The Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) faced a new roadblock yesterday when the District Sports Office (DSO) stopped renovation work at their basketball courts in Azad Maidan for not having necessary permission in place. However, despite DSO's intervention in the morning, MSSA went ahead with the repair work, without the DSO's knowledge, and managed to complete it by evening.
Lashing out at DSO's approach, Nadim Memon, MSSA's cricket secretary said, "Every year, MSSA carries out repair work as the surface of the courts gets damaged due to rains. Yesterday, we started work to lay out a layer of tarmac that had to be put on the basketball cum tennis courts. Our basketball tournament is scheduled to start on November 21 but some DSO officials came and stopped work in the morning. However, we continued to carry out our repair work and finished laying the surface by evening."
Memon alleged that the DSO is targeting organisations like the MSSA.
Meanwhile, NB Mote, Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Affairs (Mumbai Division), said he sent his men to stop work at the basketball court since the MSSA did not have the necessary permission from DSO, "I had to stop it (renovation) as there are complaints of water logging if the level of the surface is raised. Since this is in the interest of the kids, we plan to have a meeting with MSSA and solve the issue," Mote said.
