Pampore: A sports facility being built by the J&K Sports Council here in Kadlabal area of Pampore has been left abandoned for more than 6 months now, much to the dismay of sports enthusiasts and the general public.
Residents, particularly sportspersons in Kadlabal and adjoining areas, had fought a long battle to get the attention of the authorities towards the facility, which for many years was used as a dumping yard and as parking space for local transporters.
In 2018, the Sports Council finally took up the work of earth filling of the ground, but left it midway, prompting some residents to pool money and get it done by themselves.
“We raised around 50 thousand rupees back then and got the earth filing completed,” said Muneer Ahmad, a local resident. “We did that with the hope that the further work will be conducted without much delay.”
Subsequently, funds were allotted for the fencing of the stadium and construction of a pavilion complex. “Some work was carried out on that but in March this year, the contractors abandoned the site and no further work has been done,” Gulzar Ahmad, another local, told Kashmir Reader.
Despite the hardships, some of the sportspersons in Pampore have been using the facility for cricket and football tournaments. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to continue, they say.
“We even installed lights here to play. But you can see how rough and unkempt the ground is. Only the other day, one of our football players was injured after he had a fall,” a football player told Kashmir Reader, adding that there was no washroom and drinking water facility in the ground as well.
The sportspersons rue that the ill treatment of the stadium was pushing the younger generation of the area away from sports and making them vulnerable to harmful activities.
“If the stadium was in fine condition, the local youth would have flocked to it and they would have been engaged positively. Otherwise, some of them fall into the drug trap and other problems,” the football player said.
Kashmir Reader talked to Adil Haqani, Junior Engineer of the Sports Council and in charge of the work at the stadium. He said that there were some monetary issues with the contractors, which have been sorted out.
“The contractors told me that it was hard for them to find labourers these days because of the ongoing harvesting season in Kashmir. They have sought a week’s time and the work will be started again,” Haqani said.

Suhail A Shah