Indoor Ice Skating Rink in Dehradun to start operation from August

Indoor Ice Skating Rink in Dehradun at Maharana Pratap Sports Collage Raipur is all set to start operating again from August this year. A joint initiative of the State Government and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), it would  operate once again on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. 

Explaining why the PPP mode has been opted for, chief operating officer of Indoor Ice Skating Rink, Neeraj Gupta said that as the Canadian technology and machinery are being used it is going to be a very expensive project. “We cannot thus operate it on our own resources. This is why, we have decided to opt for the PPP mode. The  IL&FS would bear expenses for the operation. The agreement which has been inked with the company is a long- term one,” he said. 

Talking with The Pioneer, he, further, said that the technology and machines used in the Ice Skating Rink being Canadian, the snow-making machines would be started off  36 to 24 hours before the start of any sports event to be held here. It would have seating capacity of 2000, he added.

Asked how the temperature would be maintained, he said that there are two machines. “One regulates the temperature and the other  produces different gasses for maintaining the temperature of ice rink to sub zero. The dimension of the ice rink is 60 meter in length and 30 meter in width,” he said.

Queried over how the coaches and the trainers are being recruited, he said that they have engaged two organisations for recruiting coaches and imparting training to the players. “The competitions would be managed by the Winter Games Federation of India and International Ice Hockey Federation. Over 100 people can do skating on the ice rink at a time. It is a great opportunity for the youth of Uttarakhand as they will get a new platform. After it is completed they can practise here also on the competitions,” he added.