Last Updated: March 13, 2023, 16:17 IST
The rink is currently centrally located and therefore remains accessible for tourists thronging to Shimla. (AP)
The rink is a major tourist attraction of the hill state, and there is pressure on the newly elected Congress government under Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu to find a probable solution to this.
Due to erratic weather conditions and the ever-growing problem of climate change, Shimla’s ice-skating rink is bearing the brunt. Repetitive weather fluctuations and reduced snowfall over the last decade are effecting the natural rink.
The rink is a major tourist attraction of the hill state, and there is pressure on the newly elected Congress government under Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu to find a probable solution to this.
To ensure that it continues to remain a tourist attraction the members of the Ice Skating Club are demanding that it gets converted into an all weather skating rink.
“Lots of people come to the hill station, for ice skating and the number of sessions per winter has been on a decline,’’ Manpreet Singh, Secretary of Shimla Ice Skating Club told News18.
The weather conditions have reduced the time during which the rink can be operated. In 2022, Singh said, the rink could only be operational till February 22, and this year due to reduced snowfall, the number of sessions reduced drastically.
A proposal has been sent to the state government to convert this into an all weather rink so that from the tourism point the attraction continues. For this, an artificial ice-skating rink will need to be created, with the help of the state authorities.
As per available data, which is now raising concerns for the reduced number of skating sessions, the weather conditions have not been conducive since 2010.
While there were 88 skating sessions in 2010-2011, the rink saw one of the lowest sessions in 2016-2017 with a mere 11 sessions in the year.
In 2022-23 it again recorded a reduced number of sessions at 33, which is the third lowest so far, indicating a dire need to come up with an alternatives solution.
Singh said as per their proposal to the government they have requested for a refrigerating plant to be set up and cover the area without thinking of shifting it from the location. The rink is currently centrally located and therefore remains accessible for tourists thronging to Shimla.
There was a time when the national championship of Ice Hockey and Ice Skating were held here. But the changing weather conditions have forced organisers to shift the venue to Ladakh, Kashmir and Kaza.
The members are hopeful that the government would consider their plea of making it into an all weather closed rink.
“”With the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur also hailing from Himachal, we are hopeful that he too would not like to see the venue shifted out of the state,’’ said another member of the club.
There was hope last year when administration claimed that a Rs 21 crore fund would be allocated under the Smart City Mission for converting it into an all weather rink. But so far the project is yet to kick off.
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