Kala Bhavan ground has produced hundreds of hockey players
Vadodara: The Indian hockey team, which won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, had the full support of the Orissa government, the sponsors of the men’s and women’s teams, for the last five years. While the Gujarat government organizes Khel Mahakumbh to promote the sport, hockey players are treated poorly in Vadodara.
Forget supporting our national game, hockey players of the city were kicked out of the historic Kala Bhawan ground in 2017 as the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) imposed a huge commercial tax on the property.
“We train aspiring hockey players for a nominal fee. This is not a business activity as we do not make any profit either. While we expected government support, the civic body sealed the ground,” said Amardeep Singh, secretary, Baroda District Hockey Association (BDHA).
“Vadodara has been the center of hockey in Gujarat and the Kala Bhawan ground has produced an Olympian Govindrao Sawant as well as hundreds of national players. The morale of the hockey players was badly affected by the action of VMC. We didn’t even have a proper ground to practice for a few years?” saddened the lion.
It was in 2013 that the VMC was the first to seal the huge hockey ground and imposed a commercial tax of over Rs 30 lakh on the property owned by the royal Gaikwad family. The grounds were later opened but in subsequent years, taxes kept rising along with interest rates and the VMC re-sealed the 8,000 sq ft ground in 2017 as pending dues reached Rs 64 lakh.
While the civic body, citing technicalities, said that taxes were assessed at the commercial rate for all playgrounds in the city, the hockey association argued that they could not pay the hefty taxes as they were able to train the youth free of cost. Many of them are from poor backgrounds. In 2018, royal descendant Samarjitsinh Gaikwad paid Rs 32 lakh for taxes and sealed the land.
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