Since the time talks of privatisation of Noida stadium came to the fore, there has been stern opposition by residents and different sports associations in the district. Everyone feared that there will be entrance fees and other fees to use the facilities at the stadium after its privatisation.
Now, the Federation of District Sports Association has written to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh opposing the Noida Authority’s plans to privatise the stadium.
The federation has categorically mentioned in the letter that the private company will only operate with an objective to raise money and it will affect the standard of sportspersons in the city. They said that the Noida stadium was the only place available for coaching of players belonging to different sports. noida news
The letter read that the stadium with seating capacity of 25,000 people has cricket field, golf course, badminton court, squash, tennis court, volleyball court, skating court, football field and aerobics court.
The federation wrote, “Different registered sports associations used to organise coaching of players from different sports on revenue sharing basis till 2013 under which free coaching was given to poor and national level players. Also, there was a very limited fee for trainees. Frequent competitions also happened during that period. As a result, the standard of players improved significantly and they started doing well at the national level.”
They said that these arrangements were discontinued after 2013 which has hugely degraded the standard of players belonging to different sports in the city.
The federation requested that the arrangements which were in place prior to 2013 should be restored and Noida Authority should be given freedom to enforce privatisation of the stadium.
Earlier on June 4, the Noida Authority had cleared that no entrance fee will be charged to regular visitors including morning walkers and joggers. But, their stand to privatise the stadium was intact and they also did not mention anything regarding the fees for players after the privatisation.
The authority reasoned that they are going ahead with the privatisation of stadium because many parents had complained that due to the substandard level of coaching facilities, they are forced to send their children to other stadiums in Delhi-NCR. The authority said that standard of coaching will improve after the privatisation.
On June 3, many residents along with members of District Olympic Association protested against the decision of the Noida Authority.
According to Surender Nagar, president of Olympic Association and former MP of Gautam Budh Nagar, “If the stadium gets privatised then people will have to pay on every visit. The Noida stadium is public property. It should be free from any entrance fee.”
“The stadium was part of the Noida plan. The objective behind making the stadium was to promote sports in the city. It was also thought that Ranji and IPL matches will also be played in the stadium. But, the conditions of the ground are such that it does not host those matches. The Authority spent Rs 83 crore on the construction of the stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000.” said Nagar.
“We will meet Alok Tandon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Noida Authority, to discuss the issue and find out a solution to this. If the decision is not reversed then we will raise the issue in Rajya Sabha. We are also mulling legal route to find a solution to the problem,” said Nagar who is also a Rajya Sabha MP.
