A stormy May has taken an ugly toll on Ranchi's iconic stadium complex, sending officials into an assessment tizzy of the damage done to the Rs 30-crore makeover that it had received over the past year in the run-up to becoming a sports university.
The last week of last month witnessed as many as four Nor'westers (see box) in quick succession. Gale winds, clocking a top speed of 60kmph ripped off plywood, glass and granite tiles from the contemporary façade of the main administrative building of Morang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Mega Sports Complex in Hotwar. One of the eight individual stadiums -Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium for basketball and volleyball - lost its giant name board while most others were left with shattered glass doors and windows.
Jharkhand Sports Promotion Society (JSPS), a body floated by Central Coalfields and the state government to set up the ambitious sports varsity, suspects that renovation would cost nothing less than Rs 2 crore.
The wisdom of engaging repair engineers right now is again questionable with monsoon round the corner.
Alok Kumar, deputy general manager of Central Coalfields (CCL) and chief executive officer of the sports varsity, conceded their mega loss. "We had pumped in big money for a facelift to launch sports academies under the varsity. Currently, we are evaluating the quantum of damage, which is big. This is an unexpected and unwanted liability, but who can fight nature. We shall take up repairs soon," he said.
If sports society officials are to be believed, roughly Rs 30 crore were spent by CCL to whitewash and repair all the stadiums, VIP guest house and the administrative building.
"Going by preliminary assessment of damages, anywhere around Rs 2 crore will be required to fix the buildings. The estimate may go up since minute field inspection is yet to be done. Besides shattered glass windows and doors, we are also looking at snapped power cables at some places," said an official, adding that the engineering cell of the company had been asked to draw up a budget.
On when the Hotwar stadiums might regain their lost glory, CCL deputy general manager Kumar said it was difficult to offer a time-frame because of ongoing trials to select cadets for the upcoming academies. "Repair work will take some time to commence for sure," he said.
Kumar maintained that final selection trials for the academies in Hotwar would be held from June 16 to 18. "We will bring 200 youngsters, aged between 8 and 10 years, from CCL command areas while the state sports department will select 200 more from districts through trials in Ranchi. The final round of selection will cream off 80 cadets for the various academies," he added.
The Rs 650-crore multidisciplinary sporting facility in Hotwar was established prior to the 34th National Games in February 2011.
A sports varsity was later on proposed to save the mammoth infrastructure from languishing in neglect.
