False ceiling panels fall, authorities blame low AC temperature

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 8

The newly-built multipurpose arena of Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, is showing signs of wear and tear. 

The false ceiling of the 32-crore project is giving jitters to the participants of the National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships as the panels are coming off frequently while the matches are on.

As many as four to five panels of the false ceiling have fallen down in the last two days and the authorities have removed the damaged panels to avoid any mishap. 

District Sports Officer Jyoti Rani said the panels are coming off due to the excessive moisture generated by the air conditioners. "The damaged panels have been removed and once the competition gets over on July 10, we will repair the false ceiling," Rani said. 

"The organisers had set the temperature at 18 degrees Celsius for a long time which caused the damage. We have now set the temperature at 22 degrees celsius to avoid any further problem. The engineering department has removed the damaged panels," she added.

No injuries were reported from the falling panel. On Saturday, a panel fall near to a player, who was playing a first round match. The panels are said to be of light weight, however dangerous, if fallen from height. 

The multipurpose hall was inaugurated by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on February 25. 

The four-month old arena is built at a cost of Rs 32 crores and has a capacity to host around 4000 people with a facility to organise 12 different disciplines.