Lal Bahadur stadium, in the heart of the city, has again been plundered at a non-sporting programme.
Meant for sporting activity alone in the past, the stadium was over the years rented out to political parties and organisations to conduct programmes organising large crowds. Sunday was no exception to the trend when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a BJP workers’ meeting. But, the Sports Authority of Telangana State which let out the ground paid a heavy price for it, as vehicles that brought material ruthlessly crushed the wet ground under their tyres.
A bigger damage was done to the rain-soaked stadium when YSR Congress organised its ‘Samaikya Sankharavam’ meeting in support of united Andhra Pradesh three years ago. Organised on court orders, the huge crowd had then badly treaded on the ground and rendered it slushy. It took over a year to repair the stadium owing to red-tapism in sanction of funds. The sports coaching at the venue was disrupted throughout the period.
A meeting organised by AP NGOs association a month earlier and flagging off of BJP’s campaign for 2014 elections by Mr. Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister around the same time had already made the stadium unfit for sports. The Congress and TRS had organised their plenaries at the venue which left deep scars. Some social organisations also got up their functions, all of which filled the coffers of cash-starved SATS but brutalised the ground.
