Pampore, Feb 14: After years of lobbying and going after officials, sports lovers in the saffron town of Pampore finally managed to get Kadalbal stadium restored in 2017. But the happiness seems short-lived as waterlogging and landfill turned the stadium into mess.
It has once again turned the stadium into a pool, with foul smell and water logging making any sports activity tough there. “A brief spell of rain or snow submerges the whole stadium,” said Mushtaq Ahmad, a local social activist.
The stadium, which is located on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, was buried under sewage water for decades leaving sports lovers in pain.
Then in late 2016, when the Sports Council finally started de-watering and filling the playground to make it worth playing, the entire town heaved a sigh of relief.
Within no time, the once sewage dump, which used to put off visitors and travellers with its foul stench, was buzzing with sports activities. “But it was short lived, as the rain spell again water logged the stadium,”said Ahmad.
There are dunes of soil and boulders inside the stadium leaving sports lovers infuriated, alleges Ahmad.
He further said that a drain was constructed on the outer space of the stadium that was supposed to dewater the stadium but it is dysfunctional as no water of the stadium gets into it.
The 45 kanalsof the stadium at Kadalbal, Pampore, has always remained an emotional issue for locals. “If authorities don’t act fast, this stadium will once again become a big dirty drain,” said Ahmad.
The boundary around the stadium, which was constructed in the early 1980s, was damaged. It was then renovated in 2022 on just three sides.
Ironically, locals allege, ‘even the local municipality uses this stadium as a dumping site to dispose-off waste generated in the town’. “This stadium is located near the local municipality office, so it becomes easy for them to dump waste here,” alleges Manzoor Ahmad, a local.
A part of the sports stadium is being used by the local public service taxis for the parking purposes. Locals said that this space was basically meant for sports parking only. “We urge authorities to shift this ‘illegal’ taxi stand from here,” said a group of locals.
An official of the Sports Council said that the work on the stadium is going on and it will be finished in a phased manner. “So far we have done the fencing part and it will be followed by the levelling of the ground that will permanently solve the waterlogging issue,” he said.
