A lone playfield in Potarwal for more than two dozen villages of southern Kashmir’s Shopian district has been encroached upon by some influential persons, residents in the area allege. Scores of young men from the village alleged that a few influential residents have illegally occupied a large portion of the playground and authorities have failed to free it from their illegal possession.
“Despite our repeated requested, authorities have notbeen able to remove the encroachments from the playground,” said MudsirAhmad, a local resident.
The playfield that, according to local residents, used to bespread over dozens kanals of land has now been reduced to a few kanlas due tothe illegal constructions raised by some locals.
“Most of its land has been grabbed by the peopleresiding around the field. They have also constructed some concrete structureson the land,” Mudasir said.
Zahoor Ahmad, another resident says that the playgroundcaters the sporting needs of 20-30 villages.
“This is the sole playground in this area and sportslovers from dozens of adjoining villages play here and hold varioustournaments,” Zahoor said, adding that the ground was in a dilapidatedwaiting for attention of authorities.
“It is dotted with potholes and as the nearby residentsride their motorcycles and cars through the ground, it has caused ruts init,” Zahoor said.
A young sportsman said that due to bad condition of groundplayers often receive injuries during sporting activities. He added that thedistrict has a great sporting talent and many players from the area havebrought laurels to the state, but the area lacks good playgrounds.
Village head Ghulam of Potarwal, Hassan Padroo, told GreaterKashmir that the field has not been renovated since long.
A revenue official told Greater Kashmir that the departmenthad already taken cognisance.
“A team is going to undertake a field soon and file itsreport with the Deputy Commisoner’s office,” the official said.