Snakes, shrubs & slush: An apology of a stadium

KOCHI: Raising questions on the infrastructure and maintenance of grounds in the city, an athlete suffered snake-bite while he was warming up at the Maharaja’s College stadium for the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan Regional Athletic Meet on Friday morning.Akash Chandran, an athlete from Kendriya Vidayala, Akulam, was rushed to the hospital and he is still under medical care. However, his condition is stated to be out of danger.The apathy of the authorities in maintaining the ground and its surroundings is evident from the overgrown shrubs and weeds all around. According to a ground staff, snakes are spotted regularly in the area and the authorities have not taken any steps to solve the problem. During rainy season, the surrounding areas of the main ground get flooded and water remains there all through the year. The work to fill the premises of the main ground has not been done yet even though the proposal was approved three years ago.“Though the government has allotted Rs 25 lakh to the Kerala Sports Council for raising the level of the stadium,  the project has hit a roadblock mid-way.  The tender for the project was given to a contractor. Unfortunately he died even before the work began. Now, we have handed over memorandums for re-tendering the project to the Sports Minister but the government has not taken any action in this regard.” said T P Sellen, Head, Department of Physical Education, Maharaja’s College.According to Kerala State Athletics Association vice- president Tony Daniel, the ground has no such problems.The weeds are only in the outer areas of the ground and it is well-maintained. “The ground is well-maintained and had hosted many national events. As far as snakes are concerned only rat snakes are present in the area and they don’t pose a problem for the athletes,” Tony said. However, District Collector Sheik Pareeth told Express that the district administration had recommended to clean up the ground premises several times.“The cleaning work has to be done by the Public Works Department. I have talked about this to the PWD officials but they have not taken any action in this regard ,” the District Collector said.