Gurugram: Residents set to highlight issues through cricket

The much awaited first inter-society cricket tournament for new and developing housing societies will be played on Saturday. The matches will be played at the OM Cricket Academy in Sector 86.

Eighteen teams have registered their participation for the tournament, which will be inaugurated by Yashpal Yadav, commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG).

Organised by the Dwarka Expressway Welfare Association (DXPWA), the tournament is aimed at encouraging sporting events between the new societies and make sure the residents come together to push for the development of the new sectors, in terms of infrastructure development and provision of urban amenities, which has been in limbo for the last several years.

“The issues (plaguing residents in new sectors) are being taken up and will be addressed in due course of time. This is a good initiative by residents to highlight the issues affecting them and seek redressal. We, too, are working towards resolving their problems. We won’t disappoint them,” Yadav said.

In addition to holding the cricket tournament, the DXPWA members have also organised voter ID registration camps for the residents of the new and developing sectors at the match venue. Majority of the people who took up residence in these new sectors have yet to get their voter identity cards made.

“Apart from organising cricket matches to highlight our problems, we will also hold voter ID registration camps at the match venue and at Vatika India Next, K Block, Sector 83, between 10am and 3pm on April 21 and 22,” Yashesh Yadav, president, DXP welfare association, said.

This is the first time that residents societies in all new and developing sectors have come together to organise a cricket tournament of this kind. The tournament will kick off on Saturday, May 21, and will end on May 14.

All matches will have a unique theme of ‘One issue-One match’, highlighting concerns of residents in new sectors. The first match will feature residents seeking relocation of the Kherki Daula toll plaza, while the second will involve residents seeking early completion of the Dwarka Expressway. The third match will feature residents demanding construction of internal roads.

The matches will be 15 overs a side and each society can have a maximum of two teams. A team’s squad will comprise 18 players and the playing eleven will be selected from that squad.

“Each match will be played for a cause. We have suffered because of water pipelines that haven’t been constructed as yet, and lack of electricity, too, is a major concern for residents in new sectors. Again, in some places, sewer lines have not been laid, parks haven’t been developed, streetlights are not in adequate number and there is no police station, hospital and post office in the vicinity. Residents are also suffering due to the lack of adequate water connections,” Pradeep Rahi, general secretary, DXPWA, said.