Glorious years & momentous past of Burlton Park are long gone

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 30

Have you ever wondered why Burlton Park, situated in the heart of the city is known as Burlton? While the park was formally built in 1955, equipped with a cricket stadium on 26-acre land, it is around 200 years old. It was named after a British Executive Officer, named Burlton, who not only was the first owner of the land but also developed it into a recreational park over 100 years ago. The elderly, who live close to the park, say many legal battles were fought with the Municipal Corporation and the state government hell-bent on turning it into a commercial land.

A walk through the past

The Burlton Park gained popularity following various sporting activities — mostly cricket matches were conducted. Spanning nearly 60 acres, the park is also known as Gandhi Stadium or BS Bedi Stadium. Post-independence and Partition, various refugee camps were erected and the migrated populace ended up building their temporary houses around it. Reliving the memories, Raj Kumar (71), a three-time councillor of the area, whose wife is now handling the reins, says, “After being evicted from Pakistan, my family spent first few years in Amritsar. Later on, when were told about the park’s refugee camp, subsequently we arrived here and gradually brought life on tracks. We constructed our house in Kabir Nagar area and witnessed the development. Apart from the players, we also used to play here. Everytime the matches were conducted we used to cheer for our Indian players.”

Avtar Singh, who has been officially managing the cricket stadium for past four years, while recalling the international tournament days says that many big names, including Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguli, Ravi Shastri, Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh and others have played here. “All kinds of matches including Ranji trophy, national and international have been played in the stadium. It served as the home ground to two Indian domestic cricket teams; Punjab and North Zone.” Earlier, this was the only cricket stadium so around three-four international matches including test match against Pakistan and three ODI’s were played here with many spectators. Avtar was also appointed as the local assistant manager for Sri Lankan team.

Similarly, Iqbal Singh Sandhu, general secretary, Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium, shares, “The stadia came into existence in 1990 as there was no dedicated ground for hockey, despite the region churning out many national and international level players. Astroturf was subsequently laid after establishing and afterwards realising the need for day and night matches floodlights were installed in the year 2000.”

Not on our watch!

Unfortunately, the esteemed ground’s popularity meant nothing to the administration and in 2005 it demolished the stadium, including the pavilion at the cricket stadium. Harish Sharma, general secretary, Burlton Park, tells, “When the government proposed commercialisation of the stadium and hacking of 2000 trees, we filed a PIL with the Punjab and Haryana High Court against it and saved the trees from being cut down.” The society has been maintaining the recreational park housed inside since 2004. Apart from this, Dasehra is celebrated here every year and a firecrackers market is installed in the park around Diwali.

Sports hub a distant dream

As per the veteran players, the politicisation and improper management of the Burlton Park cost it dear. Despite having two world-class grounds for cricket and hockey, no big tournaments are being conducted here. Its stature has incredibly diminished. From hosting international matches in the past, only district-level tournaments are held presently. However, proposals were passed to set up a sports hub in 2008 by the MC and then local bodies minister, but nothing materialised. Surjit Rai Bitta, Joint Secretary of Punjab Cricket Association, says, “We are hoping that best facilities could be provided to the players here and the same glorious days could be lived again.” There aren’t even basic facilities at the park as of now. Other than setting up those two stadiums the rest of the space was to be used for developing various sporting facilities.