Ranjit Thakur
JAMMU, Aug 22: Even after completing 17 years, the construction work on the Outdoor Sports Stadium Doda has not been fully completed, resulting in grave resentment among sports lovers and players.
The foundation of the stadium was laid in 2006 by the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, but the project kept on hanging due to funds crunch for a long time and later some funds released by Government and work started but due to half-hearted attempts the outdoor sports stadium work is yet to be completed.
The founder of the Young Star Cricket Club Doda, Manzoor Ahmed, claimed that the organization had held numerous competitions there in which renowned athletes from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India had competed. The absence of grass on the playing surface, however, resulted in numerous injuries to the players during fielding, which discouraged them from playing on such surfaces in the future.
“We are constantly striving to improve the sports facilities at Sports Stadium Doda, but there have been minimal changes apart from some improvements made to the dressing rooms. However, our goal is to have proper grass fields and turf wickets so that national and international players can visit this remote area of Doda, which is blessed with favorable weather conditions,” he told Excelsior.
President of the Doda Development Front, Ishtaq Ahmed Dev, expressed his concern about the condition of the Doda Sports Stadium said, “Doda Sports Stadium has became a white elephant. The stadium has been reduced as a major portion of the stadium’s land has been allegedly encroached by land grabbers but none is bothered.”
“The idea for the construction of the sports stadium Doda was conceived in 1972, but regrettably, successive Governments failed to prioritize it, indicating a lack of commitment towards this project. While some progress was made during Azad’s tenure, the overall pace of the project has been extremely slow ever since,” he remarked.
With the capacity to cater over 15,000 people, all the major and minor events in the district were conducted here because there is no alternate stadium, even players from around the tehsils came here for practice.
A budding athlete alleged that, “We want this stadium to be exclusively used for sports and should be developed as per the national or international standards. The outer portion of the stadium has nowadays been used for parking vehicles.”
An officer connected with sports in Doda speaking on conditions of anonymity told Excelsior, “Even after completing 17 years, the work of the sports stadium is completed only 60 percent. The Youth of Doda has potential to produce great athletes in sports, but unfortunately they are lacking all the basic facilities.”
Deputy Commissioner Doda, Vishesh Mahajan said sports stadium Doda has been taken over by Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council and now they are looking after the works, but major work on the stadium has been completed.
“The major problem is encroachment of stadium land, we have conducted some anti-encroachment drives, but we are not getting proper support from Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, they don’t even have any district officer posted here.” Mahajan said.
“It’s a beautiful stadium where 20,000 people attended Independence day function recently, almost all the work has been done on this stadium except few works including grass work, if remaining work is completed, this stadium will give a boost to sports activities here,” Mahajan further added.
Excelsior also tried to contact Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council (JKSC), Secretary, Nuzhat Gul, but she didn’t take calls.
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