Aspiring hockey players want to practise, parents approach VMC

Dozens of hockey players of the city along with their parents approached Vadodara Municipal Corporation to raise the issue on sealed hockey ground at Kala Bhawan. They marched to the municipal commissioner Ajay Bhadoo to appeal the long standing issue. This comes after, when the ground was sealed by the royal scion Samarjitsinh Gaekwad who owns the plot on Rajmahal Road.
Controversy brewed when it was sealed by the VMC for non-payment of taxes from Gaekwad family. Because of this, children are not able to practise and it’s the only such place for hockey playing.
The ground had been charged with worth lakhs of rupees by VMC under commercial tax category. Adding to that, royal family had paid rupees 32 lakh as a property tax of the ground when civic body threatened to auction it but the ground was itself sealed by its owners later.
Baroda District Hockey Association (BDHA) had also argued that they don’t run any commercial activity there as those hockey players are being coached for minimal fees.