PERNEM: People of Pernem are peeved as the indoor stadium at Sawaldesai, which was supposed to have been built for the National Games has been leased out to a private company for accommodation.
“The government first tried to make it a Covid centre and after that leased it to this company. This is complete injustice to the people of Pernem, since there is not a single full-fledged ground in Pernem taluka where the sports persons could practice or organise games. Now, instead of using it for National Games, staff of the company have been put up,” Suryakant Chodankar, a local activist, said.
Chodankar threatened that if the government fails to make the stadium available for people of Pernem before October 28, he will go on hunger strike.
Rajan Korgaonkar, Pernem MGP Pernem leader, said, “If the government had hosted National Games here, common people of Pernem would have enjoyed and got an opportunity to encourage our players. Instead, the government has given the facility to a private entity.”
He said that the people in the vicinity are suffering as the septic tanks are overflowing as they have accommodated people more than its capacity which is now giving out stink but there is nobody who can solve their problems.
“It is sad to see that the State is hosting the National Games, but this stadium is not part of it. Is this the development agenda of the government?” he said.
They pointed out that before this stadium was built, the Sawalwada ground was the only ground in the Pernem taluka, which was used by school students, sports lovers and players to practice their games as well to hold school level and taluka level games. Now they have nowhere to go.