HYDERABAD: Floodlights have been installed at the hockey stadium of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) by the Sindh government and will be inaugurated on Thursday.

However, what worries the District Hockey Association (DHA) is recurring cost of the lights and maintenance of the stadium.

Two exhibition matches will be played on Thursday to mark the Independence Day after inauguration of the floodlights by Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Nawaz Sohoo.

The first match will be played between Nadeem Ahmed Kaimkhani Academy Hyderabad and Hyderabad DHA Academy and the second will be witnessed between Hyderabad DC eleven and Hyderabad DHA eleven.

DHA secretary Rizwan Tanveer is worried about billing expenses of the floodflights. “We have arranged a generator for the lights on rental basis for Thursday activity. We are happy to have floodlights that add beauty to the stadium but who will bear regular billing expenses,” he argued.

Four poles have been fitted with lights while two more are in fitting process. Ground is already in dire need of repair and maintenance since the Astroturf was laid there nine years ago.

It would be relevant to mention here that the stadium remained in possession of law enforcement agencies for a long time.

Laying of Astroturf was completed after the project was approved by then president Gen Pervez Musharraf on request of then district nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafik Zaman at the time of presidential referendum.

Synthetic turf was laid in Nov 2005. Stadium is the property of BISE while Astroturf and ground is looked after by the DHA to organise matches.

Rizwan said sprinkler system needs repair and the turf needs cleaning. “We don’t have that much of funds,” he added.

Likewise, he said, grills of the ground also require maintenance. He said that only one employee was there to look after requirements of water availability.

He disclosed that two hockey academies were working in stadium for training of youths between eight to 16 years of age.

The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) executed Astroturf scheme through the Sindh Sports Board (SSB) and an amount of Rs34.260 million was initially estimated on project, of which Rs20 million were to be spent on laying of imported Astroturf alone.

Major amount was spent on synthetic turf, preparing hard surface, construction of drain, grill around the ground, underground water tank, pump house, piping work and cover sheeting.

Present seating capacity of the ground is not more than 1,000 and it is to be increased for which space was available but work for it is yet to begin.

After the Hockey Club of Pakistan in Karachi, it is the first Astroturf for the people of interior of Sindh where people can enjoy the game of hockey if matches are regularly organised.

Local district sport official Irshad Ali Makhdoom said the SSB was not responsible for maintenance of the Astroturf as it was looked after by the Hyderabad DHA.

He added that the SSB had initially done some minor repair work but department was not supposed to bear its expenses.

Rizwan recalled that during the tenure of district nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil it was decided that the SSB would be provided with two employees for the stadium and the BISE would provide a room for DHA but it was never done.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014