'Faulty' construction denting UP sports directorate's image

The alleged faulty infrastructure seems to have hit hard the image of the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate and this has made things difficult for sportspersons across the state.

- Sharad Deep

The Olympic-sized swimming pool at Lucknow’s KD Singh 'Babu' Stadium has leaks even after an expenditure of Rs 22 crore, its kids’ pool is in a bad shape. Besides, the jogging track at the same venue has now developed holes and the 80-bedded cricket hostel at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium has technical snags whereas the athletics track at Bareilly is reportedly of bad quality.

The common factor in all these alleged poor construction is one Basti-based contractor, who has been doing the most of work in the name of his two companies even after being blacklisted in the past for another firm. Laying of the correct synthetic athletics track by him at Bareilly was in question and an inquiry by the technical advisory committee was done.

“Most of the construction of sporting infrastructure is being done by a certain contractor as he has got proximity with the official concerned and we have reports that the hockey turfs laid by him in Varanasi and other places are of bad quality and they attract inquiries as it’s a loss of public exchequer. Even the contractor is running his unauthorised office from the government-owned Vijayant Khand Stadium,” said a source in the sports directorate.