On one side ‘Khelo India’ in Indore, on the other hand children forced to play hockey on the pavement
In Indore, the cleanest city of the country, these days, the state government’s hosting of ‘Khelo India’ youth sports is shining, on the other hand, in the absence of a dedicated field for hockey, the new plant has been learning the tricks of this game for a long time at a place like the footpath. is forced. This is because the lone ground of a historic hockey club was acquired seven years ago to turn it into a waste disposal center and the state government’s plan to build a new hockey turf at another location in the city has not materialized for years. Has been able
Former goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi, who shot to fame with Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chak De India (2007), broke into the national team playing for the Prakash Hockey Club, established in 1940, in Indore. After retiring from the game, he teaches hockey tricks to the children of the club, most of whom are from poor families. These days, Negi can be seen training new hockey saplings at a footpath adjacent to the wall of the district jail in the Residency area of the city.
The 65-year-old hockey legend is deeply hurt over the replacement of the club’s hockey ground in the Azad Nagar area by the Indore Municipal Corporation’s (IMC) waste transfer centre. Negi told ‘PTI-Bhasha’, “The competition for cleanliness is a good thing, but in this competition our ground was sacrificed.” Instead, we were not given any other ground even though we are tired of pleading everywhere. The teeth of two children have also been broken.
He said, “The high tension line of electricity is passing right above this place. There is also a danger of children playing hockey on the footpath adjacent to the road. When asked about children playing hockey on the footpath, State Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said, ‘Don’t worry. We are making good hockey turf with pavilion in Bijalpur area. But what to do, the steps of the government are slightly different. Wait a while.
Scindia said that he had conducted a departmental review a month or two ago to find out why the plan to make hockey turf in Bijalpur has not yet been put on the ground? According to the Sports and Youth Welfare Minister, after review, he has resolved the problems related to this scheme. Devkinandan Silavat, secretary of the Prakash Hockey Club, said that the IMC had taken over the club’s ground in 2016 and the local hockey community has received nothing but empty assurances from the government, demanding an alternative ground in return.
