Caretakers shut doors, thwart vacation fun

Hyderabad: As children and youth in the city are busy playing in the summer vacation, the sports loving people are deprived of playing at the Hockey Ground at AC Guards in Masab Tank.

The ground caretakers argue that the morning walkers get disturbed because of youth playing with tennis ball but they rent the ground at over Rs 5,000 to others who play with leather ball. The youth have questioned the double standards of the caretakers and demanded that the authorities allow them to play during the morning hours.
According to locals, there is a Hockey ground at AC Guards in Masab Tank and children, youth and others play there with tennis ball. However, with no specific reason, the ground caretakers stopped the youth from entering the ground for the last three months. They have erected grills denying the entry of children to play particularly during the morning hours, the locals said.

Imran Rizvi, who plays here, said that this was an Eidgah and a Waqf land and the caretakers are behaving as if it is their own land. “We used to play here on a regular basis but off late the caretaker comes and argues with us to vacate the ground,” said Imran. They do not allow the common people to play but rent the ground by charging Rs 5,000, he alleged. He further alleged that there is no harm to allow people to play. There is no accountability as to where the money was going as there is no maintenance at all, he alleged. Imran urged the authorities to take action and allow the children to play.

Advocate K Siddharth said that the authorities cannot deny people for playing. It is matter of two hours in the morning and by 9:00 am the ground gets vacant and the caretakers can do whatever they want. The advocate wanted the authorities to look into the matter and act immediately since the summer vacations would end soon.