NSC´s slack approach in maintaining cleanliness has not just turned the stadium almost into a junkyard but also put national reputation at stake. [break]
An employee at NSC, who did not wanted to be named, told Republica that it was a matter of shame our national stadium is in such a pathetic state.
“Look at the restrooms. It´s quite humiliating when a foreigner visits our stadium,” he said of the toilets that do not even have water taps, forget about water.
NSC officials say the taps have been stolen and they cannot afford to check against theft time and again because thousands of people visit the stadium.
Instead of coming up with a policy that would prevent such theft, the sports authorities have simply stopped replacing the taps.
PHOTO: NEERAJ CHANDRA ROY
Judo coach Devendra Karmacharya says that the stadium has been like this since the last 15 to 20 years.
“I´ve never seen water in the toilet for the last 20 years,” he said.
Such unhygienic conditions are a hazard to athletes´ health, according to athletics chief coach Sushil Narsingh Rana.
“Athletes are vulnerable after training when they have just spent all of their energy. They can easily get infected,” he added.
“The stadium must have proper showers and hygienic toilets,” he added.
That is not the only problem plaguing the stadium. The backside of the covered hall has virtually become a junkyard for discsarded road vehicles and iron rods while trash is littered everywhere. The concerned authorities are not bothered about cleaning things up although the NSC has two permanent janitors and has hired four female sweepers on contract.
According to Olympian Jeet Bahadur KC, the NSC has shifted one sweeper, who used to clean the athletics track, elsewhere and now there is no one left to attend to the stadium.
PHOTO: BIKASH KARKI
“The sweepers are to be seen around the office of the NSC member secretary. They hardly come here,” says KC, who participated in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.
“They make a round of the stadium to collect rubbish once a week or even just once a fortnight,” he adds.
Pointing to a pile of garbage at the inner gate of the stadium, KC says, “That has been lying here for days. The litter container is there thanks to the generosity of Dr Khagendra Shrestha, but there is no one to dispose of the waste.”
Instead of janitors, Dr Shrestha himself is to be seen most times cleaning up the mess early in the morning.
“I´ve been cleaning the tracks for the past 12 years whenever I come here,” says Dr Shrestha, who was royal physician of the late King Birendra.
“I´m neither a member of the NSC nor a sports doctor. So I help clean the stadium to repay for utilizing the facilities,” adds Shrestha, who is also a former footballer of NRT.
Others have dissuaded Dr Shrestha from cleaning the tracks because they believe one man alone cannot make a difference. However, he is adamant on continuing his work.
“I tell them that it is a bending exercise for me. I will keep on cleaning as long as I can.”
Dr Shrestha suggests that the best way to maintain cleanliness is not to litter the stadium. Players themselves should be aware about this and should make a collective effort to keep things clean.
However, Olympian Deepak Bista begs to differ, saying it is not the players who are responsible for the sorry state of the stadium.
Bista, Nepal´s most successful athlete with a record four South Asian Games golds to his name, points the finger at outsiders for littering as well as damaging the infrastructure.
“Genuine athletes never damage the facilities that they themselves use. It´s the unruly spectators who are responsible for all this,” he said.
Chief of the General Administration department at NSC Suresh Dhungana seconded Bista´s view.
“We are fed up with the audience. They are the main hindrance to keeping the stadium clean. They even take away the taps soon after we replace them,” he said.
Dhungana informed that the NSC has a staff of eight for upkeep but only five of them, all females, are actively involved day to day. Only one among the five is a permanent staffer and their input is lower because they cannot work as hard as the males. Another permanent staffer named Kumar is head of the janitors and does not do any work apart from giving out instructions, while two others are stationed outside the stadium.
“The few cleaning staff that we have work all the time but it´s difficult to look after such a large area and huge number of visitors,” he said.
“We cannot post a guard at every toilet to ensure that spectators do not steal things from the stadium during football matches. It is the responsibility of ANFA (All Nepal Football Association, Nepal´s football governing body) because the maximum number of people visit the stadium during football matches,” he added.
“The matches finish after 5 p.m. and our staff is gone by then. ANFA should be cleaning up the mess,” said Dhungana.
Olympian KC says that it is the blame game between the NSC and ANFA that has hampered any cleaning up.
“Both ANFA and NSC shy away from their responsibilities,” said KC.
ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan, meanwhile, said they have been cleaning the stadium regularly after every match but ANFA was not interested in spending a single rupee, from the millions it makes out of ticket sales, on cleanliness and hygiene at the stadium.
“If we spend the money collected from ticket sales for that purpose who is going to pay for the visiting international teams?” retorted Pradhan.
NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama flatly denied that the stadium was in a sorry state although a stroll through the premises indicated otherwise.
“We are maintaining it properly. Where did you see any rubbish?” he asked.
Later on, he withdrew his earlier remark and clarified that they have turned the open ground near the main entrance into a dumping site.
“We collect garbage and dump it near the main entrance for incineration,” admitted Lama when he was categorically informed of the ground realities.
Lama said that it was not their intention to keep the stadium dirty but the apex sports body had not formulated any policy regarding stadium cleanliness so far and he had “no idea” when there would be water in the restrooms.
“I have no idea when the players will get water in the taps,” said Lama, who was not even aware there were no taps in the toilets.
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VOX POP
Dhirendra Chaudhary, national player
(National record of 16.13 seconds in 110m hurdles, set during the 11th South Asian Games in 2010)
The slogan “Sports for Health” has turned out to be meaningless because our stadium is the most unhygienic place. Besides the littering around the stadium, what we athletes despise most is the pathetic condition of the toilets. It affects us not just physically but also mentally.
I joined Nepal Police Club about seven years ago and we have been training here regularly. For as long as I can remember, this stadium has always been dirty as it is today.
It is the responsibility of the National Sports Council to take proper care of the stadium. It is only during international football games that the concerned authorities clean up the stadium.
Krishna Basnet, Olympian
(Participated in marathon during the 1988 Seoul Olympics)
It is a blatant negligence of the National Sports Council which is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the stadium. I started training for athletics in 2032, almost four decades ago. The stadium used to be clean during the time of Sharad Chandra Shah. There was strict discipline and the stadium was managed properly.
Sweepers used to hide when Shah arrived, fearing that they might get scolding for not cleaning the venue properly.
Things have changed now. All this happened after the restoration of democracy. There is no discipline now. Earlier, a colonel was assigned to look after the security and nobody was allowed to throw litter around the place. There was strict discipline. But now there in only one guard and no one listens to him.
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