A stretch of the NL Daulogupu Sports Complex ground in Haflong. Telegraph picture
Nagaon/Guwahati, April 12: The Dima Hasao Sports Association has moved the district administration for compensation to repair the N.L. Daulogupu Sports Complex ground that was damaged by vehicles used for the Assembly elections.
In a letter to the Dima Hasao deputy commissioner, who is also the district election officer, the association has requested the authorities for Rs 10 lakh to repair the damage.
Copies of the letter had also been marked to the state chief electoral officer and Nirvachan Sadan.
The association alleged that the vehicles requisitioned for elections were parked on the ground which was slushy because of heavy downpour.
Dima Hasao district went to the polls on April 4.
“Despite the heavy downpour and our request for not allowing vehicles inside the ground, the fences were broken open and vehicles were taken in, causing almost irreparable damage,” the letter reads. “Laying a cricket pitch is a very expensive affair and the association had spent Rs 80,000 just two years ago to lay it,” it added.
“The ground was not the only place in the town where vehicles could have been parked. On earlier occasions, vehicles were parked along the roads and around a nearby lake. Moreover, there were no toilet facilities for the staff, making the ground an open toilet for them,” DHSA working president Thai-Tsho Daulagupu said.
The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) also took note of the damage to the pitch.“Since there is no other ground in Haflong, it is natural that the ground was requisitioned for parking the vehicles. However, the pitch and playing arena could have been spared. The authorities should get the ground repaired,” said ACA secretary Bikash Baruah.
The association said it does not get any help from the government or the civil administration to maintain and develop the ground.
“We maintain it reasonably well with funds generated mostly by way of membership fees and donations from wellwishers. Our repeated requests for funds and development schemes to the civil administration have always fallen on deaf ears,” Daulagupu said.
Nearly two years ago, chief minister Tarun Gogoi promised the people of Dima Hasao that he would upgrade the playground under a multi-crore rupee infrastructure development project but the plan is yet to materialise.
Gogoi announced a Rs 50-crore package on October 2, 2009. The only assets of the organisation include an Assam- type office building, an indoor stadium built in 2002 and a gallery along one side of the ground.