Sports stadium turns slush pool

At a time when Indian athletes are shining at international sports, encouragement to sports persons at the grassroots-level is being neglected.

Take the case of the district stadium, which the district administration finds suitable to conduct its programmes. Also massive political rallies are held without taking into consideration the adverse effects that follow.

With a medical college coming up in the city, the stadium has turned into a garbage bin. Hundreds of health conscious citizens are now finding it difficult to walk here due to pathetic conditions of the grounds.

When the district administration finds the sports most suitable to host the Bhagyalakshmi scheme, what can officials of the Sports Department do?

During the programme, holes were dug to put up the pandal.

Later, hundreds of vehicles belonging to the various government departments were parked on the track without bothering that it would damage the ground.

Many senior officials were seen using their cars to inspect the stadium prior to the launch of the Bhagyalakshmi scheme in the district.

Adding  to the misery of the stadium were the incessant rains that had been lashing the city. Inorder to cover the slush, the district administration ordered stone powder to be put inside the stadium, further spoiling the grounds.

The day after the public programme was held, when sports lovers entered the stadium to practice they were shocked to sea heaps of  rice and vegetable pulav dumped in the stadium.

Despite repeated requests by the officials of the sports department to stop the use of the stadium for rallies, the district administration has continued its practice.

The question here is why the administration wants to use this stadium when the other grounds are available in the city.

The district boasts of 32 acre land allotted for sports.

While in most other districts, stadium  for hockey, cricket and athletics are spread across the city, Hassan has grounds for every sporting discipline adjoining each other.

The construction of an international-level skating rink worth  `  19 lakh is set to start within a few days. However, if current trend continues maintenance will cause problems to the sports department.

The district administration has sent a proposal for the construction of a turk for playing hockey at a cost of  `  3.5 crore and another proposal for building an athletic track at a cost of `   4.5 crore.

However, will the government encourage sports is a big question.