A mangle of wires in the main electrical panel room at Astroturf Hockey Stadium, Ranchi; (above) one of the tampered circuit breakers. Pictures by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Sept. 23: An in-house tourney of the Indian Army’s Southeast Command at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium here has sent preparations for the 34th National Games haywire, literally.

The men in olive, who used the year-old Rs 7-crore facility for a hockey series between September 5 and 15, have allegedly tampered with electrical wiring to the extent of causing a string of short circuits and leaving a major portion of the building in the dark.

According to sports department officials, the army personnel decided to use a generator when the building saw low voltage. In the process, they tampered with the original wirings and damaged circuits.

When The Telegraph team visited the stadium, it found that the main electric panel, which controls power supply to different parts of the building, had been rigged.

Main circuit breakers — automatic switches that protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overloading — at different points of the building had also been tampered with. A majority of bulbs, vapour lamps and tube lights had been rendered defunct, too.

Confirming the damages, district sports officer and stadium in-charge D. Ram said: “We are sad over what has happened.” He conceded that rectifying the wiring was a Herculean task at hand.

It is learnt that the sports authorities are trying to reset the electrical wiring as it was for the past few days, but success is yet to be achieved.

Ram, however, said that he had not lodged any complaint with the army authorities. “I have apprised my seniors. It is their call,” he said.

When contacted, army authorities feigned ignorance about any damage. “We will have to look into the matter and find out what exactly happened and how,” said Lieutenant Colonel Samarjeet of the Southeast Command.

The state-of-the-art astroturf stadium in Ranchi was built for Rs 7 crore barely a year ago.

The new building of the stadium was inaugurated by then Governor K. Sankaranarayanan on September 29, 2009. It has lodging facilities for 350 players and seating arrangements for 5,000 visitors.