Stadium in a shambles, authorities have a ball

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 22

Only three years after its installation at Olympian Pirthipal Singh Standard Hockey Stadium, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the blue and pink AstroTurf is facing negligence on the part of the authorities. No one has cleaned the turf for the past one year.

The players, who are participating in the ongoing State School Hockey Championship, have been facing inconvenience due to the muddy turf. According to experts, while playing on this muddy turf, budding players are at the risk of suffering injuries, which can ruin their career. The Punjab Government had spent around Rs 6 crore on laying the blue and pink AstroTurf and renovation of the hockey stadium. The renovation work was carried out in 2011.

Office-bearers of the Hockey Ludhiana said the cost of the blue and pink AstroTurf was about Rs 3.5 crore. The machine meant for cleaning it has been lying defunct for the past several months.

“The turf has become very dirty. Players are always at the risk of suffering an injury while playing on this dirty turf. The Sports Department has received a lot of money from the organisers of Kabaddi League. They have to spend it on the maintenance of the stadium,” said Niku Grewal, treasurer, Hockey Ludhiana.

Apart from the dirty AstroTurf, weeds have grown all around in the stadium. The toilets at the stadium are also in a pathetic condition.

Ajitpal Singh, Additional Education Officer, organiser of the school games, said: “The cleaning machine was not functional, so we are unable to clean the ground. We have asked the higher authorities to get it repaired.