Anantnag: An indoor stadium, aimed at engaging the youth in a constructive way, remains far from completion, almost five years after work was started on the building, in Shopian.
The youth have been left bitter and disappointed with the sorry state of affairs.
“It pinches all the more during the winter season while it is almost impossible to indulge in outdoor sports,” a sports enthusiast from the district told Kashmir Reader.
The Indoor Stadium in Arhama village of Shopian district was sanctioned around 2017, and work was taken up in the later part of the year by Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC).
The government had earmarked around Rs 4 crore for the completion of the project, which was to be completed in a year’s time. “We were told it will be completed in a year, and it has been five now. It does not look like the stadium will be completed any time soon,” Arshid Hussain, a young boy from Arhama village told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the younger generation of his village and the other nearby villages had their hopes pinned on this facility to engage in sports activities and hone their skills.
“Indoor stadiums have been an agent of positive change in many areas of Kashmir, as youth get to spend time playing different indoor sports, especially at a time when drug addiction has emerged as a menace,”Hussain said, “Situation is no different in our district and this facility would have been a great help.”
Elderly people in the area have also been left disappointed with the slow pace of work on the project, saying that they were hopeful that their young ones will be engaged in sports and kept away from subversive activities.
“Drug addiction, prolonged screen exposure, childhood obesity, inactivity – these are issues the younger generation is facing right now. This simple facility would have been an answer to so many things for the kids who are growing up amid all these challenges,” the elders in the village said.
They said that they have been constantly reminding the authorities about the facility, “but looks like the work on the project has been abandoned altogether, while similar facilities taken up at the same time have been completed and are functional in other parts of the valley,”
Kashmir Reader talked to an official from JKPCC who acknowledged that work has been put to a halt as of now, given that the contractor has abandoned the project. “We are trying to float fresh tenders for the project,” the official said.
He said that the paucity of funds has been another impediment to the smooth execution of the work. “Funds have come in trickles, honestly and that has been the biggest hindrance,”
Asked if the facility will be completed any time soon, the official said that even though the RCC has been completed the JKPCC has put a completion date of 2023, “Which is subject to availability of funds.”

Suhail A Shah