Chhatrapur: The synthetic turf hockey training centre proposed at Chhatrapur, the district headquarters of Ganjam, has failed to take off as yet due to delay in land handover, a report said.
Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced November 2, 2020 that a synthetic turf hockey training centre would be launched in Chhatrapur in Ganjam in recognition of the rich hockey culture in the region.
According to the report, there is delay on part of the administration to hand over the earmarked land to the sports and youth affairs department. IDCO has been tasked to look after the construction of the synthetic turf hockey training centre.
Meanwhile, the IDCO has completed its tender.
“As land is not being provided, land demarcation has got delayed. Hence, the contractor is unable to start construction of the astro turf hockey centre,” said Ashok Kumar Mishra, the divisional head of IDCO.
He has intimated the issue to the IDCO CMD in Bhubaneswar and the Ganjam Collector. It was learnt that a patch of 3.1 acre of land identified for the hockey centre is under the Home department.
The land has an old building which needs to be dismantled. On March 2, 2021, the Ganjam Collector had written to the additional chief secretary of the Home department to hand over land to the revenue and disaster management department.
Later, he sought to transfer the land to the sports and youth affairs department. After handover of the land, area will be demarcated by Chhatrapur tehsildar while trees on the land will be enumerated.
The IDCO has asked the district administration to hasten the land handover process so that construction work can be taken up soon.
PNN