4 years gone, no hockey nursery yet

ROURKELA: Caught in the red tape, the novel hockey nursery project for kids at Rourkela-based Panposh Sports Hostel (PSH), the cradle of hockey, has been put on the back burner.Touted as only of its kind in the country, the nursery, a pet project of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, remains a nonstarter after it was inaugurated by him on June 7, 2008. The game itself has been the immediate casualty.  The Panposh Sports Hostel has to its credit many tribal boys and girls who have made a mark in the national and international hockey.The idea behind the proposed nursery - the brainchild of former Sundargarh collector Krishan Kumar - was to catch the kids young and hone their skills in hockey. The proposal was to select 20 boys and 20 girls aged eight to 12 years and train them. They would then graduate to PSH’s sub-junior and junior levels as accomplished trainees. Right now, it takes 15 years of age to adapt to the stick skills and manoeuvring.However, Kumar’s abrupt transfer saw the nursery slip into a coma.If indications are anything to go by then this admission session too is likely to be frittered away. After fresh initiative of the district administration, the PSH authorities were supposed to begin the selection of kids from February. However, it has been deferred till June. Reasons are not far to seek. The Sports Department has not given go ahead in writing. Worse, there is little sign of the project coming into life in near future.The project requires an initial budget of nearly ` 30 lakh, including kits, and the monthly expenditure is envisaged to be covered under the periphery development fund.A few years back, there were even rumours  doing the rounds of closing the nursery under the lame excuse of poor PSH infrastructure. This despite the PSH producing nearly 40 senior and junior hockey internationals, including Ignace and Prabodh Tirkey who captained India.Administrative sources felt it could be a ‘clash of egos’ of the sports bureaucrats as the local administration had then not consulted the Sport Department. They are also surprised at Naveen’s interest being ignored. Naveen recently enquired thrice about progress of the project.  Sundargarh Collector Rupa Roshan Sahu was firm on taking up the matter at the appropriate level and kick-start the nursery on schedule.  Locals feel there must not be further delay in running the nursery as PSH is an exclusive facility which is keeping hockey alive in Odisha, nay India.