Pulwama, Sep 19: The sports stadium in Malangpora village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, where over half a dozen youth would remain engaged with different sports activities throughout the year, is in shambles from past one and a half year.
Locals of Malangpora said that the earth filling of sports stadium started in November 2016 but the incomplete filling has spoiled the shape of stadium.
Mudasir Ahmad Bhat, 25, said that we used to play all games here including cricket, football and volleyball, but now it has become impossible to play any of the game here.”The turf has developed dilapidated conditions and thereby becoming unfit for playing cricket.”
Shaqir Hameed, 19, a young footballer said that the outfield of the stadium is not evenly leveled and it is too hard to run while playing football here.
“When the filling work began here we were already in the middle of a cricket tournament in which almost 60 teams from different Tehsils of the district Pulwama were participating and we are getting constant requests from the captains of participating teams asking us to resume the tournament, but how can we organize the tournament on a dilapidated playground,” said Umar Jan Bhat, 23, adding that since Nov 2016 we are not even able to hold running sessions in the stadium.
“We have raised the issue several times with the concerned authorities requesting them to repair the stadium so that we can resume sports activities here, but they have always turned a deaf ear to our repeated pleas,” said a group of local athletes in Malangpora adding that more than 3 lakh rupees have been allotted for the overhaul of stadium and the same has not been utilized yet.
When contacted Block Development Officer (BDO) Awantipora, Suhail Ahmad, he said, “I have taken cognizance of the issue and it will be resolved as soon as possible. Also, I will be visiting the stadium after a couple of days to take a stock of the pending work.”
