Wednesday, July 18, 2007

PALZOR STADIUM OF GANGTOK









While tracing the history of Paljor Stadium it is indeed very difficult to ascertain it's origin. The old timers recall this flat piece of land being used by the Tibiten traders to station their herds of Sheep en-route to the plains of Sikkim and India.Originally the Paljor Stadium was popularly known as Polo Ground. Chogyal named it around 1943 possibly because Britishers and few members of aristocratic family of sikkim played polo ground. Around 1939 one of the Political Officers, Sir Basil Gould had sanctioned Rs. 3000 to the Forest Department and ordered that the grass demonstration farm be set up there. Kikuyu Grass from Africa and Venezuela grass were grown for the soil binding, The whole task was completed in April 1941. Paljor Stadium proved to be a major venue of all public meeting including those of Prime ministers and religious leaders. The ground as been hosting the Independence day and republic day celebrations and also all major atheistic events. It was on 24th July 1998 that a High Power state Committee constituted by the government took a decision to upgrade and renovate the existing Paljor Stadium. The project of redesigning and modernizing cost was around Rs. 30 Crores, out of which Rs. 15.36 Crores was from DONER contribution and remaining from the State coffer. The actual work took off in the year 2001. The modern look of the stadium was designed by M/S Archtech Consultant Pvt. Ltd., Kolkota and it's execution was assigned to Civil Engineers Enterprise Ltd. Kolkota. Initially the project was scheduled to be completed by March 2004, but owning the additional work the date was shifted to April 2005. The Paljor stadium being developed more as a Sports Complex, it is under the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs. After the completion of Pajor Stadium the dreams of taking sports to the next level is fulfilled. Sikkim will once again be featured in the map to host National and International football and other games. The state also hopes to channelize the energy of the youth towards sports. Many battles will be fought and won in this ground, however all in good spirit.