Turf war is over

Hoockey stadiums in the country will now get proper equipment for the maintenance of articial turf installed at crores of rupees. Acting on the basis of a report in The Indian Express, the sports ministry announced today that the Sports Authorities of India SAI would provide these machines to all the hockey stadiums administered by them.

Minister of state for sport Vijay Goel said, 8216;8216;We took up the issue today after the report in your newspaper highlighted the problem and have immediately asked SAI to make arrangements for the machines as required for the upkeep of the artifical turf.8217;8217; The government, in fact, went a step further: it has made it compulsory for companies answering tenders for the artificial turf to provide a machine for the maintenance as well.

Union sports minister Vikram Verma called an emergency meeting of senior officials, including Director-General of SAI JP Singh, to review the condition of the turf at the National Stadium which hosts the Asia Cup for women from Sunday.

The report 8212; 8216;To clean astroturf, use Surf8217; published on Thursday 8212; said that the turf at the National Stadium had to be cleaned manually by groundsmen, using detergent, since SAI had no other provision for their maintenance. The turf, installed only two years ago, hadn8217;t hosted any tournament so far but bears black stains all over and an uneven bounce because of repairs carried out in various places. Each machine, Goel said, would cost between Rs 1.5-1.7 lakh.