Police soccer match in Gurung backyard

The soccer tournament in progress at Tukvar, Darjeeling, on Friday

Vivek Chetri, TT, 15 December 2017, Darjeeling: A couple of months back, police and the youths at Tukvar were running after each other often resulting in violent clashes but they were both sharing the same field cheering a game of football on Friday.

Darjeeling police on Friday kicked off Kanchenjunga Football Tournament at Tukvar tea garden, a few km downhill Bimal Gurung's house, in an effort to improve police-public relation.

The choice of venue was interesting as Tukvar was the hotbed of most activities of the recent Gorkhaland agitation.

The tournament which will be played across four zones, Tukvar, Pulbazar-Bijabari, Badamtam-Lebong and Pulbazar-Bijanbari has seen an enrolment of 48 teams.

Manoj Verma, the inspector-general, Darjeeling, who inaugurated the tourney, did talk about the significance of the venue.

"Holding a tournament in Tukvar is significant as I still remember that a few days before Independence Day, we had come here with relief materials. People would run away from us. Even the children would not come forward. Now things have changed and children and general pubic come to us. Such a situation was not there in July-August," said Verma.

The top cop in the district said the perceived negativity was slowly disappearing. "There was some negative feeling among the people but now we see positivity. We want to say that police have a law and order component but it is only for a targeted group of wanted people and not for the general public," said Verma who added that the police had also worked hard to maintain good relation with the public.

On Friday, a large number of local people were seen at the ground cheering the teams. "Such tournaments are also being held under different police stations and people are participating in large numbers. Things are getting normal," said Verma.

The teams will first compete within the zone, with the winner getting a cash award of Rs 50,000 and the runners bagging Rs 30,000. The top teams from the four zones will again compete for the inter-zone honour with the winners bagging Rs 1.5 lakh and the runners-up getting Rs 1 lakh apart from trophies and citations.

The tournament will be over by January 7 and the matches will be played in three venues at Tukvar, Badamantan and Lebong.