From British glory to bureaucratic freeze, Shimla’s iconic rink awaits revival

The historic Shimla ice-skating rink has slipped into bad times.

The once beautiful landmark of the city and a symbol of the British era, the rink looks worn out. The entrance to the rink is dotted by several stalls and shacks and one corner is littered with construction equipment.

The rink, constructed in 1920 by the British, is under a multi-pronged assault in the form of climate change, deforestation and rampant construction, apart from government apathy over the past many years.

The collective impact of climate change, deforestation and widespread construction is evident in the shrinking window for skating at this natural rink. “There was a time when we used to have over 100 skating session from November to February. Now, we struggle to squeeze in 50 sessions as we don’t get the right weather,” said Pankaj Prabhakar, an ice-skating coach and joint secretary of the Shimla Ice Skating Club. Rajat Malhotra, secretary of the Club, says the construction of big dams is also playing a spoilsport. “The humidity levels in and around the city have increased due to the construction of dams. Due to the increased humidity, we struggle to prepare hard ice for skating,” said Malhotra.

To skate past these problems, the club started toying with the idea of converting this natural open-air skating rink into an artificial all-weather skating facility about two decades back. “For more than a decade now, we’ve been pursuing this matter seriously with the government,” said Malhotra. Following several plans failing to take off to convert the rink into an all-weather facility, the work has been finally awarded to a contractor. The Asian Development Bank is pumping in over Rs 40 crore for the project.

Nevertheless, the work is unlikely to start soon enough. “The Sports Department will have to take permission from the Cabinet to dismantle the existing building. Besides, we need to relocate the shopkeepers having stalls at the entrance of the rink to the shops that will come up in the under-construction lift at the site. Once both these conditions are met, the work will begin,” said Vivek Mahajan, Project Director. And if all goes as per the plan, the contractor will need at least two years to complete the project.

Despite the painfully slow progress, skating enthusiasts and tourism industry are looking forward to the completion of the project. “Shimla produced good skaters up to the 1990s, but thereafter things went downhill. As and when we have the all-weather facility, Shimla skaters can again start dominating ice-skating,” said Prabhakar.

Hoteliers feel all-weather skating rink will give a big boost to tourism in the city. “The all-weather skating rink will hold back tourists a little longer in the city,” said an hotelier.