Is the ministry changing gear at SLARDAR
Over 20 members of the one-time strong motor racing club, the Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR) are alleging that a complaint made to the Ministry of Sports, against the conduct of some of their own, almost one year ago, has gone unheard. The mess-up, according renowned racing driver Upulwan Serasinghe, is a well planned and well executed chain of events spearheaded by a highhanded individual connected to the Ministry of Sports itself, he adamantly says.
Upulwan Serasinghe stresses a point
According to Serasinghe’s grievance the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of SLARDAR had taken place somewhere in December, 2012 but due to inappropriate conduct it was deemed null and void by the Ministry of Sports. The Minister of Sports himself had instructed the SLARDAR officials to conduct fresh elections.
“Cannily those who administered SLARDAR at that time fixed the second AGM for April 18, 2013, the day of first day’s trials of Fox Hill Supercross in Diyatalawa. Those who wanted to manipulate the situation at SLARDAR clearly knew that the clan that opposed them is not going to be present on that day. So they went ahead and got what they wanted. But two days later, on April 20, 2013 we made an official protest to the Ministry of Sports indicating the wrongdoings SLARDAR had followed to conduct the second AGM,” Serasinghe revealed.
“The conduct of some individuals with personal agendas has indirectly caused unwarranted problems, which later resulted in many riders and drivers losing faith in SLARDAR. Most of them forgot that SLARDAR was just an organiser and conductor of events hosted either by the Sri Lanka Army or Air Force, who are the actual godfathers of motor racing in the country. Most of them 
forgot that we did not own any of those tracks where the races were conducted. That’s when a majority of its members became unhappy of what is taking place which resulted in a mass exodus. Now they are cheating for their existence,” said Serasinghe, pointing out his finger to an unnamed official at the Ministry of Sports.
“It’s all being well planned and well led by this individual, who is not even a member of SLARDAR. I really doubt if he, at least, has any idea about a passenger vehicle for a matter of fact. He is the main cause behind all these mayhem and because of his close association, the Minister of Sports is misguided with wrong information,” he asserted.
With the purpose of serving the sport in mind, Serasinghe said, some of the individuals who opposed those at SLARDAR had the intention of contesting, but they were shrewdly let down. However after being opposed with the protest, SLARDAR had taken the matter to the Supreme Court.
“We have evidence that even this move, to take the issue to the Supreme Court was also done under instructions from this individual at the Ministry of Sports. Eventually the matter was redirected to the Minister of Sports who was given the call to make the final verdict by the Supreme Court,” said Serasinghe while revealing that the Minister of Sports had instructed his team of officials to conduct an inquiry.
However as alleged by Serasinghe, as the aggrieved party, none of those who protested were called in for the inquiry. He went on to say that the SLARDAR, together with certain high handed individuals has violated its own constitutions, the norms of sportsmanship and even the Sports Act during the chain of events that took place.
“Last week I personally met another top official of the Ministry of Sports who was really cordial and corporative in his approach. He advised me to rewrite a request letter, which I did and he agreed to conduct a free and fair inquiry. We don’t want to challenge the verdict given by the Supreme Court, nor the Minister of Sports, nor the Sports Act. What we want to know is, how did all these things occur, how did these people manage to misguide the Minister and then how did they manage to push things under the carpet until it was forcibly resurfaced by us. We are watching and if we don’t get a fair reply we are in possession of evidence against everyone involved to make the next move,” Serasinghe exposed while charging that higher authorities should have done a case study of each sport discipline before implementing the enacted Sports Act.
“The Ministry of Sports has come into motor sports without proper observation and is dragging it to an untimely death. Even if they do not have any idea of motor sports it’s not a shame to come to an expert and get their views and expertise, so they are not ill-informed. Not only motor sports, but other sports too need to be given special observation before implementing laws and acts. Or else it will lead to unnecessary crisis because regardless of the nature of the sport, all of them come under it. The pending issue was also the cause for Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS), the parent body of motor sports in Sri Lanka to be dissolved. Now even the SLAS is run by an interim committee,” added Serasinghe who also revealed that copies of complain sheets have been sent to the Secretary and Director General of the Ministry of Sports in addition to the Minister of Sports and the SLAS interim committee, currently headed by Nawaz Fawzie.