Opening ceremony of sports fest put off

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 23

The state government has postponed the opening ceremony of ‘Khel Mahakumbh’ scheduled for tomorrow to September 27 following continuous heavy rainfall since last night and the forecast of more rain in the next two days.

The Karan stadium, where the opening ceremony was to take place, is submerged under water due to a poor drainage system. The rain has washed away all arrangements made for the event. It is an integral part of the Swarna Jayanti celebrations of Haryana to be jointly organised by the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs and the Swarna Jayanti Celebrations Authority, Haryana. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Sports Minister Anil Vij were to flag off the event, while other Cabinet colleagues were to preside over the function as guests.

All preparations for the mega event were done and the state government has hired a premier event management company that had also organised the opening and closing ceremony of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and the ICC World Cup, 2011.

According to sources, around Rs 4 crore has been spent on the preparations for thew event and famous singer Sukhwinder Singh is scheduled to perform.

Sportspersons had raised the issue of poor drainage with the Chief Minister and at several platforms, but to no avail. On several occasions, the Independence Day and Republic Day functions had to be shifted to the grain market due to poor drainage. “We have made all arrangements for the gala event but due to continuous heavy rainfall since last night and the forecast of more rain in coming two days, the government has decided to postpone the event. The decision was also taken considering the safety of students who are to participate in the event,” said Aditya Dahiya, Deputy Commissioner.

He said all state-level games would be held according to the earlier schedule (October 5 to 26) and the closing ceremony would be held at the Mahavir Stadium, Hisar, on October 31.