The Hindu : Front Page : Sport gets short-changed in city

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Friday, Nov 30, 2007
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Sport gets short-changed in city

Lackadaisical attitude of GHMC officials
Gurumurthy Pool in pathetic condition

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) could be making extravagant plans to improve civic infrastructure spending crores but its record in building new sports complexes or maintaining existing ones is pathetic.

Fourteen new sports complexes proposed to be built at a cost of Rs. 27.9 crore have been languishing with the engineering department for more than a year. Not even a brick has been laid for many while some like the Amberpet swimming pool is in the making for years!

Such is the lackadaisical attitude of the officials that there is little progress in work on even the multi-purpose sports complex at Chandulal Baradari for which Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy himself laid the foundation.

“Estimates are being prepared, tender stage, tender process, work in progress…” are the excuses given.

New sports facilities include swimming pools at Indira Park, Lakshminagar, Khairatabad, etc., while multi-purpose sports buildings for basketball, badminton, indoor games and so on are to come up at Kamalapuri Colony, Nehrunagar, Hafeezbabanagar, Moosarambagh, Lalapet and Gowlipura.

“Our job is to maintain the facilities and provide proper coaching. We are not involved with the construction work,” says Director of Sports S. Premraj.

Considering the immense patronage all the municipal sports complexes enjoy among the citizens as also the hugely popular summer camps for children, it is amazing why only half the budget (Rs. 1.4 crore for 2007-08) is spent each year.

Quite ironic because existing facilities need repairs badly like the S.V. Gurumurthy Pool in Secunderabad. It has broken tiles and requires new cleaning systems, but six months after funds were sanctioned, not a tile has been replaced.

The department, now spreading into the 12 ex-municipalities, is also understaffed with meagre pay scales for part-time coaches. Is grooming new talent possible under the scenario?

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