Promised AstroTurf at Surjit Hockey Stadium misses deadline

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, January 18

In a major setback to hockey players in the district, the process to procure a new AstroTurf field for Surjit Hockey Stadium here has been delayed and the District Sports Department has no information on when the project will see the light of day.

It was in December 2020 that the Punjab Government had floated tenders for the installation of a new AstroTurf at the local Surjit Hockey Stadium here. In June, 2021, the then Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Sodhi, during his visit to Jalandhar, announced that the hockey players would get ultra-modern sports facilities once the AstroTurf will be laid within seven months.

The minister then said that the turf to be laid has been manufactured by the USA-based company FieldTurf, and will be laid by Great Sports Tech of Hyderabad, adding that the stadium would also have a sprinkler system along with a tubewell.

However, the seven months deadline is over now, but there are no signs of AstroTurf or any other development in the stadium besides the cemented base prepared to lay down the AstroTurf field is also getting damaged.

A junior hockey player, who requested anonymity, said: “It was when Indian’s men’s team won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and I got to know 11 players were from Punjab and that four from Jalandhar itself, I got inspired to play hockey. Surjit Hockey Academy has a good name in town as it has produced many Olympians, therefore I took admission. But it’s sad that this small work of laying AstroTurf field is being delayed,” he said. “Not just this, even the hostel rooms and its washrooms are in poor condition,” he added.

Another player said since the last six to seven months, they have been practicing in the open ground that’s close to the stadium. “Due to no professional training, we have lost many matches in the past. We have many times taken the matter with the sports department, but nothing happened,” he added.

As per information procured from Iqbal Singh Sandhu, former secretary, Surjit Hockey Society, in the chart prepared by the engineering wing of the sports department for laying new AstroTurf, the deadline of the work was July-August 2021. “I have written to the sports department complaining about the quality of work being carried out and the technical problems due to which the work is being delayed, but to no avail,” said Sandhu.

Meanwhile, District Sports Officer, Gurpreet Singh, said he has no information regarding the ongoing work and all details are with the construction wing in Chandigarh. When contacted Sanjay Mahajan, XEN Sports, he said the work got delayed due to Covid. “The turf is being shipped to India from a European nation; it has now almost reached here. In next few days, the work will be completed,” he said.