Rourkela: The much-celebrated statue of a hockey player, widely believed to be Major Dhyan Chand, was erected in Steel City ahead of the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup. Even a road sign existed at the spot mentioning ‘Dhyan Chand Square’.
However, the 40-foot tall statue came crashing June 11 of the same year, shortly after the event. Amid a chorus for the restoration of the statue, the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) has now promised that a replica of the Hockey World Cup will soon come up in its place. Rourkela residents rue the fact that there is neither any word nor concern from the administration regarding the statue which was once one of the most photographed spots in the state. “I am shocked that the administration is not at all serious about the statue which was once one of the most visited spots in the city.
Nowadays the spot looks empty and ugly,” said Srishti Das, a resident of Chhend. The investigation report on the ‘fall of the statue’ never saw the light of the day. Reacting to this, former District Congress Committee (DCC) president Rashmi Ranjan Padhi said, “This was a big scam and nothing else. Where is the report? What happened to it?” Asked what happened to the statue, he said, “After lying there for some time, it was shifted to the garbage dumping site near BPUT and it was reportedly sold to a scrap dealer.” “To cover up their misdeeds, the administration said it was going to erect a replica of the Hockey World Cup,” Padhi said. Major Dhyan Chand’s son and member of the lone World Cup winning team of 1975, Ashok Kumar, who was here June 16, 2023, had said, “I had initially heard it was the statue of my father and got to know about its fate recently. Whether it belonged to my father or was just a hockey player’s statue, this should not have happened in the nursery of the game especially when the state government is doing so much for the game.” This was one of the most visited and photographed spots of the Steel City. “I had done so many reels there and those went viral. Now when I see the place, I feel sorry,” said a girl.
Sudipta Nath, an official of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) said, “The statue will be installed very soon. This time it is the replica of the Hockey World Cup, made from a combination of aluminium and iron. A Bhubaneswar-based agency is doing the project for Rs 16 lakh.”
RAJESH MOHANTY, OP