Sports complex upkeep: DU for pvt players

He said the infrastructure was in good shape,but the University cannot maintain the stadium on its own. “We are looking at public private partnerships (PPPs) to look after the maintenance. Tenders will be invited very soon,” said Meera Sood,member of the Delhi University Sports Council.

Prospective partners may be a sports management company,which,in return for maintaining the stadium,will be allowed to host events in it,Professor Sood said.

The University is also considering the option of opening the facilities at the complex to the public at a nominal fee,inspired by the model adopted by the Indraprastha College for Women of DU,which has opened its facilities to the public,said professor Dubey.

The sports complex is composed of a rugby stadium and an indoor stadium for other games,with associated facilities like gymnasiums.

But,even as the University formulates plans for the upkeep of the stadium,the keys to the facility still remains with the Central government.

The stadium,which was expected to be opened to students after the CWG was over,is still to be handed over to the University and will not be opened for use during this year’s inter-collegiate tournament,scheduled to begin on September 24.

“The keys are yet to be handed over. It is to be handed over officially soon,” Professor Dubey said.

Sports staffers at colleges in the North campus say that they have been waiting for the stadium to be opened to students since the games ended.

“The facility has a beautiful indoor stadium which can seat 2,000 people and can be used for basketball,judo and some other games. There are two or three fitness centres where large number of players can train. We have been requesting that the facility be made available to students,” said Dr Amita Rana,Head of the Department of Physical Education at Miranda House College.

At Hindu College,where the college ground with its cricket pitch and courts for ball games was converted to serve as training ground for rugby during CWG but never restored,the head of the Department of Physical Education Jainder Pal Singh said the delay in opening the stadium for students was a result of bad planning.

“They have been talking about opening it to students for years now. Nothing has been done. The whole thing has been planned wrong. They should not have built something without a good plan for its conversion and use after the event got over. The idea of inviting private players and allowing it for commercial use is not what it was intended for,” Dr Singh said.

Dr Kavita Sharma,sports faculty at Daulat Ram College,which also hosted training for Rugby Sevens said: “We have been maintaining the CWG facilities at our own cost and using them,the University should do the same. It is bad news that it won’t opened during the coming inter-collegiate games.”

“The college ground was in a good condition once,and had one of the best cricket pitches in the University. While some colleges like the SRCC have maintained the facilities well after the CWG,here,no maintenance has taken place after it was converted during CWG and our teams have to go to other colleges to practice,” said Prajwal Agarwal,a second-year student at the department of mathematics at the Hindu College and a football player.