Playgrounds cry for attention, opened for public

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 20

With city residents facing acute shortage of playgrounds, the Municipal Corporation has passed a resolution to allow general public to use playgrounds in government schools. However, the reality check done by The Tribune found that most of the playgrounds in schools have been crying for attention.

Mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu in a meeting on Friday highlighted the issue and said, “Creating new playgrounds is not feasible due to space crunch. Therefore,  allowing general public to use playgrounds in government schools is a viable option.”

However, District Sports Officer Upkaar Singh said, “The city has no dearth of playgrounds.  The Patiala Sports Department is having enough parks for residents.” In fact, more than 15 sports disciplines at 11 centres were being run by the department.

Singh further said, “If no one plays, why grounds should be maintained? Not a single sports teacher of government schools in Patiala is running a sports centre.”

District Education Officer  Kanwal Kumari also passed the buck. Kumari said, “Maintenance of playgrounds in schools come under the ambit of principals. Along with three major multi-playgrounds facilities including polo ground, there are 8 sub-centres for different sports.”

She further said, “The sports teachers are the ones who are responsible for developing  sports infrastructure. Our role comes at the later stage.”

The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs of the Central Government introduced “Khelo India” campaign to promote sports culture at grassroots level but lack of basic infrastructure mocks the initiative.

Now picture this, Punjab ranked at seventh spot in “Khelo India-2017” whereas Haryana finished first in the medal tally.