PAU Astro-Turf in dilapidated condition

Ludhiana The pathetic conditions of Prithipal Singh Hockey stadium, PAU makes all the hockey lovers in the region a sad lot. Despite the worn out surface from past few years, no serious step has been taken so far to change the turf.

The turf was laid in 1998 with a coast of about Rs 1.30 crores at the PAU ground by the Punjab sports department on sharing basis. Many international and national level tournaments have been played so far on the ground and since then, no action has been taken to repair the turf.

After hosting so many national as well as international events, the whole surface is worn out now. At some places, especially at t-spot, turf is out of place. Apart from that, the cleaning machine is also out of action for the past few months. The patches in the turf hampers the practice sessions of the players and a lot of players can be heard complaining about the surface. Officials from the sports department have announced to change the turf many times but no action has been taken so far.

According to Ramandeep Singh Grewal, former Indian hockey captain and deputy director sports, PAU, the turf has been in a very bad position. “The turf is in a very bad condition but we can’t do anything as we are short of funds. It takes about Rs 1.25 crore to lay new turf and Rs 25 lakhs for the repair work,” said Grewal