Rourkela: It was on the 12th of last month that the statue of a hockey player, which was erected near the Rourkela Airstrip during the World Cup, came crashing down with the first nor-westerly.
Soon, an inquiry committee was formed, with sub-collector Rourkela heading it. And more than a month has passed and everybody here is waiting keenly for the report but in vain.
“They are taking time to give a plausible logic to the wrongdoing in the statue erection for that they are taking so much time,” said a local in Chhend.
The committee also has one NIT professor, SE R&B Sundergarh, SE RD Rourkela and EE R&B Rourkela as members. On being brought to the attention of the sub-collector Abhimanyu Majhi, he said, “The investigation is complete. And the report is under preparation.” When asked about the likely date of submission, he said, “Maybe in a week we will submit the report to the authorities for action at their end.”
Reacting to the development, the legend’s son Ashok Kumar said, “Let’s forget that it’s the statue of a legend. It still belongs to a hockey player. How can one keep it lying around for so long without really bothering about reinstallation? This is really an insult.” In fact, the administration is reluctant to identify the statue.
When questions were raised about whether it was that of hockey great Major Dhyanchand there was no concrete answer. However, the place has been named Dhyanchand Square. When this was brought to the notice of the sub-collector he said, “The square can be named after the hockey great but the statue can be of anyone.”
Reacting to this Dhiren Senapaty, state spokesperson of BJP, said, “Everyone knows that the statue belongs to the hockey great. But, why the board is so small that hardly anyone can notice that the square has been named after Major Dhyanchand.”
PNN