Badminton Assn reneges on its promise

THE UP Badminton Association has reneged over the consent given by it to the LDA for shifting the Badminton Academy building located adjacent to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park here in Gomti Nagar.

THE UP Badminton Association has reneged over the consent given by it to the LDA for shifting the Badminton Academy building located adjacent to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park here in Gomti Nagar.

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In a letter, the association has conveyed to the LDA that it was withdrawing the approval it had given to the latter for relocating the Badminton Academy building from its present location to Vijayant Khand in Gomti Nagar to facilitate Lohia Park’s expansion plan. The association was recently pulled up by the High Court for failing to discharge its duties towards the society on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against the shifting of the academy. In the backdrop of this, the move is being viewed as a damage control measure by the association to salvage its image.

So, would the association undertake construction work on the academy now that it has opted out of the exchange deal? The association’s secretary, Vijay Sinha, when contacted by HT Lucknow Live, expressed his inability to comment on the matter saying that the issue was pending before the court. He said only the association’s chief PC Chaturvedi would be able to throw light on the matter and he (Chaturvedi) was currently out of station.

The volte-face by the association has put paid LDA’s plan for the expansion of Lohia Park. Starting with 58-acres initially, the park’s first expansion took place last year, when the authorities decided to merge the 10-acre chunk of garden being looked after by a hotel in the vicinity with the park. It presently encompasses 80-acres. But with the move to combine the additional 10-acre each of the UP Badminton Academy and the power sub-station land in the vicinity, the Park would have become one of the largest of its kind in the country. It was to achieve this feat that the LDA Board on May 2, given its nod to the alternate land being offered by it to the UPBA as part of the move to shift the academy building to Vijayant and Vibhuti Khand of Gomti Nagar.

The development agency had offered 7.9 acres and 2.5 acres of land in Vijayant and Vibhuti Khand of Gomti Nagar respectively. Besides, it was also agreed that the State Government would compensate the money spent (approximately Rs 4 crore) on the under construction Badminton Academy by the association. The only hitch that had prevented the pact was UPBA’s demand for greater ground coverage for the 7.9 acres playfield that was offered to it in Vijayant Khand against the prescribed ground coverage of around 5 per cent in the area. This was because the academy building would be an indoor stadium, said the association.