Chandigarh, Dec 3 (PTI) Days after two teenage boys were killed in similar accidents on basketball courts, Haryana Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam has said that departments maintaining sportsgrounds, such as education, panchayat, etc., must give an undertaking on their worthiness.
A junior national-level basketball player and another teen died in eerily similar accidents during practice in Haryana after the iron pole of the basketball hoop fell on them in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts, respectively, bringing the state’s sports infrastructure under scrutiny.
While 16-year-old Hardik Rathi, who took part in the national sub-junior basketball championship, died in Rohtak on November 25, Aman (15), who was injured at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar, breathed his last during treatment at the PGIMS Rohtak on November 24.
“All grounds, be they under the education or panchayat departments, will have to give an undertaking that they are okay. We have issued instructions to the concerned officials in this regard and set a deadline to check every ground. If the ground is under the panchayat or the education department, undertakings will be taken from them. We will also improve the condition of the grounds under the sports department,” the minister said.
Officials in the sports department had said the Bahadurgarh basketball court is located in a government school, which falls under the purview of the education department, while the court in Rohtak’s Lakhanmajra comes under the jurisdiction of the panchayat department.
Gautam asserted that it was not a matter of giving a clean chit to his own department in the matter.
“We only said that one sportsground was under the panchayat department and the other under the education department. But since players train at these grounds, there is the involvement of the sports department,” he said.
Earlier, the minister had said that for a scientific assessment of the sports infrastructure in Haryana, playgrounds and stadiums will be classified into A, B, C and D categories.
A-category grounds will be excellent, safe, and ready for immediate use. B-category grounds will be in usable condition. C-category grounds will be fit for use only after repairs, while D-category facilities will be completely restricted and not permitted for use under any circumstances, the minister had said.
In Bahadurgarh, Aman’s father Suresh Kumar had lodged a police complaint alleging negligence on the part of the officials concerned for the teen’s death.
In Rohtak, Hardik’s father Sandeep Rathi told reporters last week that they repeatedly complained about the condition of the playground in their village, but the administration did nothing about it.
“Had they acted in time, my child would not have died,” he said.
Last week, the sports minister chaired a review meeting with the sports department officials in Panchkula, where he said that Rs 114 crore has already been released for the repair, upgradation, and redevelopment of stadiums and playgrounds across the state.
In addition, a major portion of the funds available with the district sports councils will be used to extensively renovate the playgrounds, Gautam had said.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
