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Haryana: Undertaking on ground worthiness must, says minister
This comes weeks after two teenage boys were killed after iron poles of basketball hoops fell on them in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts; sports minister says condition of grounds under sports department will be improved
Sports minister Gaurav Gautam has said that the departments, such as education, panchayat, etc., maintaining sports grounds must give an undertaking on their worthiness. “We have issued instructions to the concerned officials in this regard and set a deadline to check every ground. We will also improve the condition of the grounds under the sports department,” the minister said.
This comes weeks after two teenage boys were killed after iron poles of basketball hoops fell on them in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts. Officials in the sports department had said the Bahadurgarh basketball court is located in a government school, which falls under the purview of the education department, while the court in Rohtak’s Lakhanmajra comes under the jurisdiction of the panchayat department.
Gautam asserted that it was not a matter of giving a clean chit to his own department in the matter.
“We only said that one sportsground was under the panchayat department and the other under the education department. But since players train at these grounds, there is the involvement of the sports department,” he said.
In Bahadurgarh, Aman’s father Suresh Kumar had lodged a police complaint alleging negligence on the part of the officials concerned for the teen’s death.In Rohtak, Hardik’s father Sandeep Rathi told reporters last week that they repeatedly complained about the condition of the playground in their village, but the administration did nothing about it.
“Had they acted in time, my child would not have died,” he said. PTI
