Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The utilisation of a sports facility by drug addicts and garbage dumpers in Mardan is keeping away many youngsters from sports and recreational activities.

Younis Stadium in Mardan, located at the busy Bank Road, is no longer attracting sportsmen of the area. Many families fear that sending their children to the facility might spoil them, as the stadium has become home to drug abusers.

Another issue with the only stadium in the cantonment area is the piles of garbage dumps left by the nearby residents. The sportsmen of Mardan have been facing difficulties in carrying out fitness and sports related activities. One local sportsman told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that the drug sellers and abusers from across the city gather in the park during the day as no one from the authorities bother to visit the locale. Saleem Khan, a resident of the Mardan Cantonment, informed this scribe that respected families of the Bank Road avoid visiting the park and also abstain from sending their children to the stadium owning to drug abusers.

He said that the stadium was once famous for fitness and sports related activities, adding that the city sportsmen used to arrange night tournaments in the summer and during Ramazan. Saleem Khan lamented that the cantonment board authorities have given a free hand to Bank Road shopkeepers and drug abusers to use the stadium without any scare of law. Zahir Alam Khan, national level hockey player from Mardan, said that the stadium lacks basic facilities for visitors and players, adding that toilets and clean drinking water system was not available in the vicinity.

He said the drainage system of the stadium is in worst condition, which has surrounded the stadium with attentive smell. The families of the local cannot use the stadium for walk and other recreational activities, he deplored.

He said certain pockets of the lush green grass have turned into forest of the herbs, which is causing troubles for players and locals. “There is no proper arrangement for cleaning and sanitation of the stadium while the shopkeepers of Bank Road throw their garbage in the stadium,” he added.

Mardan Football Association president Ali Gohar, who is also a member of the district council, said that technically Younis Stadium comes in the jurisdiction of cantonment board, which needs to rehabilitate it for sports related activities.

He said that he would raise voice for the rehabilitation of the stadium in the council and try his level best to restore the glory of the stadium.

Provincial lawmaker and District Advisory Development Committee Chairman Iftikhar Ali Mashvani told Daily Times that sanitation work has been launched in the stadium through the Tehsil Municipal Administration. The MPA said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has launched rehabilitation and construction of sports stadium at tehsil level.

He said the he would visit the stadium personally and would issue direction to cantonment board authorities to clean the stadium and prepare it for sports activities.