Pvt sports bodies seek inclusion in Chandigarh plan to allow use of school grounds

Advertisement

Private sports associations operating in the city have demanded their inclusion in this collaborative arrangement, questioning why only the affiliated sports associations are invited for making the city a sports hub.

“We ran a cricket academy at the school ground of the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19, for nearly 30 years. The infrastructure built there, including the nets, is still intact there and being used by the department. We were asked to leave the ground despite providing free coaching to female players and others. We hosted many inter-school cricket tournaments of the Education Department. A few years ago also, we were just asked to vacate the place. Now when the department wishes to run these sports centre, it should include us as well,” said Surinder Singh Baijee, who headed Chandigarh Cricket Association (CCA) affiliated to Haryana, before Chandigarh received the BCCI affiliation.

Not only for cricket, but the same demand has also been raised for other sports centres. “While the department shortlisted already operational centres for games like cricket, softball, baseball, volleyball and fencing, only one badminton centre has been picked under this programme. There are only two courts in the existing centre (picked by the department) which are usually being used by officials,” said a former state level player, who represents the city in masters’ events.

“Not every association has resources to manage multiple grounds. For instance, the department has picked three football grounds under this scheme and the association recently announced the opening of a collaborative private academy with a local school. In such a case, why other sports bodies are not allowed to come forward and contribute to the development of sports. I also suggest this should be open to everybody in the city so that deserving coaches/players/individuals can come forward and use this facility to develop more sporting culture in the city,” said Sanjay Sharma, a former national-level footballer.