THE Bengal Hockey Association’s (BHA) grand plans of hosting the prestigious Beighton Cup this season with aplomb – playing on astro-turf this September was to be the big attraction seems to have hit a wall.

The key reason behind the increasing uncertainty over the tournament this season lies in the delay in laying out the astro-turf at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex, which is the venue of the annual event.

The problems began when the expensive and delicate pollygrass, the turf on which the game will played, arrived at the SAI centre in Kolkata on July 31 after it lay stranded at the Kolkata Port for two long weeks. SAI regional director SNS Rao, when asked about the delay and the imminent problem, was quick to explain that the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) took time to get the carpet released from the port.

Rao, when asked about when the laying of the artificial turf would be completed, explained: “The pollygrass, which costs more than Rs 1 crore, has been imported from Australia. And this twoweeks delay will affect the completion of work quite a lot. The CPWD was supposed to finish the laying of pollygrass and the total project was supposed to be over by March 31 this year, costing a total of Rs 6 crore. Now, the CPWD itself has set a new deadline of November 15 this year. I also have doubts if the company will be able maintain it. The engineers have already given an explanation that they won’t be able to fix the pollygrass unless they get 20 days of dry weather at a stretch. With the city getting rains everyday in the monsoon season now, how can we all promise them those 20 consecutive days of dry weather?”

Incidentally, Leisure Sports Management (LSM), the sports marketing company that had roped in Sahara as the title sponsor for the Indian hockey team, has tied up with the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) to market the centenary Beighton Cup this year. But when asked about the plans, LSM director SS Dasgupta told The Indian Express: “Yes, BHA has asked us to promnote the game, and plans are to host it in a gorgeous manner this season. But we haven’t yet received the dates for the tournament. How can we proceed?”

At the same time, it was learnt that the Deputy General (DG) of SAI, Sayan Chatterrjee, who was in the city recently to oversee the progress of infrastructure work at the SAI centre here, has expressed dissatisfaction over the CPWD’s usual dillydallying that has actually halted the work on the infrastructure front.

Not only that, the muchawaited swimming pool at SAI, which was supposed to have been inaugurated already, is pending as the CPWD has extended its deadline of October 15.