Rifle Assn rejects shooting range in squash court

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 11

As the Municipal Corporation has sought expression of interest for conversion of its squash court into a shooting range at Rakh Bagh, the District Rifle Association, Ludhiana, has opposed the proposal.

Earlier, the civic body had invited expression of interest from sports clubs and firms for the conversion of its squash court site into a shooting range on a built, operate, maintenance and transfer basis for five years.

The members of the association met Municipal Commissioner Jaskiran Singh on April 9, the last date for submission of expression of interest. Later, they visited the squash court.

The president of District Rifle Association (registered), Col JS Brar (retd), said there were two squash courts with a common wall. “Each court can have no more than five targets to practice. A total of 10 targets for firing air pistol/rifle from 10-metre distance is insufficient for a practice range. A shooting range in Ludhiana needs at least 40-50 targets given a large number of aspirants here,” he claimed.

The SAD-BJP government had allotted land for setting up a shooting range at Sunet village in the MC limits around eight years ago. However, this project has been hanging fire since then. Shooters are forced to visit the Narangwal shooting range, which is about 22 km from Ludhiana, for practice.

“Earlier, the land was encroached on by a leader. The authorities concerned had made no efforts to set up a shooting range at Sunet village in the past years. The shooting range should be set up on the land that was allotted for the purpose,” said Brar.

The squash court, which was inaugurated in 2002 by then Cabinet Minister Rakesh Pandey (now MLA from Ludhiana North), was never put to use. The squash court is in a pitiable condition as the authorities concerned have failed to look after it properly.