Una stadium in bad shape, retaining wall awaits repairs

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Una, July 1

Despite a sum of Rs 4 crore having been spent on it, Una Astroturf hockey stadium is still not fit for playing.

The condition of the stadium is deteriorating as mud was spreading across the stadium during rains due to damaged retaining wall. Hockey experts say that if remedial measures are not taken, the entire investment on stadium is likely to go waste.

On March 3, the entire retaining wall along the Astroturf stadium fell damaging a portion of the hockey stadium. The retaining wall collapsed hours before the expert committee set up by the Himachal government for inspecting the Astroturf was to arrive. The debris of the wall fell on the Astroturf damaging the goalpost on one side of the stadium.

The PWD authorities have removed the debris of the retaining wall from the area. However, this has exposed the hockey stadium to mud sliding from the adjoining hillock. Due to lack retaining wall, mud is spreading across the Astroturf damaging it further. The expert committee formed by the Himachal government headed by Joint Director Sports, Suman Rawat, had visited the stadium on March 3. Deepak Thakur, an international hockey player from Una district, and Bhupinder Singh, former SAI hockey coach, had also inspected the Astroturf.

The experts said that generally the Astroturf hockey stadiums are constructed using about 23 sheets of Astroturf that extend from one end of the stadium to the other in width. However, in the Una hockey stadium small Astroturf pieces have been joined which was against international standards.

Deepak Thakur, who had complained about the shortcoming in construction of the stadium, had maintained that these small pieces have been joined in manner that they would come off after the stadium is put to professional use. Rains have also exposed uneven surface of the hockey stadium. Water gets stored in certain portions of the stadium after rain. Deepak and Bhupinder were of the view that Astroturf in certain portions of the grounds should be replaced.

The state sports department maintained that the contractor, who had laid the Astroturf, would be asked to replace Astroturf portions as per the suggestions of Deepak and Bhupinder.

The condition of the stadium has also brought to the fore glaring procedural errors committed while bringing up the project. The stadium was constructed with grant provided by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Himachal Pradesh government. However, instead of hiring a professional sports body for bringing up the stadium the work for its construction was handed over to the PWD.

Experts say that the PWD should have sought advice from a panel of sports experts while constructing the stadium. However, no such advice was sought.