Chandigarh Mayor pushes for sports complex at government school in Sector 22

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 12

The UT Sports Department had reportedly said ‘no’ to a proposal of building a sports complex at a government school in Sector 22-A, proposed by city Mayor and area councillor Ravi Kant Sharma.

As per the authorities, the adjoining sectors already have a cricket stadium (Sector 16), a football stadium (Sector 17), two swimming pools, one table tennis hall, one yoga centre (Sector 23) and one sports complex (Sector 34) having facilities of badminton, swimming, judo and table tennis.

However, Sharma claimed that he had taken up the matter with the higher-ups and got the assurance of getting a sports complex built at the Sector 22-A school soon.

“The proposal was rejected by the UT Sports Department, citing that the nearby areas already have swimming pools and other facilities. Sector 22 has enough population and other facilities, besides already existing, can be provided to the masses. I have re-approached the Secretary Sports and requested him to build infrastructure as the Sector 22-A government school has ample space. He (Secretary Sports) assured me of pursuing the matter at the earliest. It’s been over a year now I have been trying to get approval for this project. Hope to see some light,” said Sharma.

Sources claimed that the department said a ‘no’ to the project as there had already been many similar sports complexes in Chandigarh. A majority of the newly built sports complexes at local government schools have the same facilities of swimming, badminton, multipurpose hall and table tennis hall. However, there were a limited number of resources (coaches and staff) to run these centres professionally.

“The matter is still under discussion and it is completely up to the competent authority to give approval for building sports complexes. We had given our view as per the records available. The decision-making authority will take the final call. However, building sports infrastructure is not a waste of money. It will benefit people at all levels. Chandigarh has a rich history of promoting sports and its infrastructure,” said Tejdeep Singh Saini, Director, Sports, UT.

Sports complexes for masses or players?

Meanwhile, questions have been raised on the UT Administration, which is building the same type of infrastructure in various sectors. “The Administration should decide whether these sports complexes are for the general public or for professional sportspersons. If these are for the general public, these should be made revenue-earning centres and retired coaches should be appointed to look after the daily affairs or should be outsourced. If these are for sportspersons, professional coaches should be appointed at every centre for better outcome. For instance, the city now has over 11 swimming pools, but it does not have a directly affiliated body to push swimmers at the national or international level,” said a coach.