CUTTACK 27-Sep-2016
Mohammad A Alam received a big gift of his career as non-government sports administrator as he was elevated from the post of council member to general secretary of Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) today. He along with other 21 office-bearers of the apex sports body of the state were elected unopposed for a four-year term, thus making the voting exercise, scheduled for Sept 30, redundant.
Cuttack-based Alam, who also functioned as the secretary of now-defunct Odisha Football Association (OFA), replaced all-powerful Asirbad Behera, who chose not to contest for any post after functioning as the general secretary for 28 years. However, rumour has it that Behera, who is also functioning as the secretary of cash-rich Odisha Cricket Association, retained his control over OOA by giving the post of the general secretary to a dummy candidate, who is also not keeping well now a days.
Of course, Behera had stepped down from the post of OOA general secretary on March 9 this year following a direction from the Supreme Court, handing over the charge to Odisha State Table Tennis Association secretary Rabindra Kumar Parida.
According to media speculations, Behera was expected to choose one among Alam, Parida and Football Association of Odisha joint-secretary Avijit Paul as his successor. Ultimately Alam, the most inactive of the trio got the nod, Paul elevated from the post of council member to joint-secretary. Surprisingly, Parida turned out to be biggest loser as he was not considered for any of the 22 posts.
Among other office-bearers, BJP leader Samir Dey and Athletic Federation of India joint-secretary Adhip Das retained their posts as president and treasurer respectively. Pankaj Lochan Mohanty of Cuttack DAA and Kishore Kumar Biswal (Mayurbhanj DAA) became new vice-presidents, replacing BAA representative Manoranjan Mohanty and former Odisha Swimming Association secretary Pitambar Jena, who passed away three years ago. Manoranjan Mohanty, who was a vice-president in the previous term, was elected as the other joint-secretary this time.
OOA OFFICE-BEARERS FOR THE TERM 2016-2020:
President: Samir Dey (Odisha Gymnastic Association).
Vice-presidents (6): Kamala Kanta Pandey (Phulbani DAA), Jaga Mohan Patnaik (Kalahandi DAA), Prasant Kumar Acharya (Balasore DAA), Pratap Satpathy (Hockey Odisha), Pankaj Lochan Mohanty (Cuttack DAA).
General secretary: M A Alam (Cuttack DAA).
Joint-secretaries (2): Manoranjan Mohanty (Bhubaneswar AA), Avijit Paul (Football Association of Odisha).
Treasurer: Adhip Das (Odisha Athletic Association).
Council members (11): Anup Kumar Patra (Koraput DAA), Binod Chandra Das (Odisha Wrestling Association), Rushinath Sahu (Odisha Kho-kho Association), Sarat Kumar Sahoo (Odisha Kabaddi Association), Binod Dash (Odisha Association for Rowing & Sculling), Anil Kumar Bohidar (Odisha Amateur Boxing Association), Narayan Sahu (Odisha Weightlifting Association), Dulal Chandra Pradhan (Sambalpur DAA), Durga Madhab Naik (Sundargarh DAA), Dhiren Pallai (Bhadrak DAA), Birendra Kumar Behera (Odisha State Handball Association).Dey.
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PHOTO: File photo of new OOA general secretary M A Alam.
