About Paljor Stadium in , Gangtok

Paljor Stadium, also known as Palzor Stadium is an association football stadium located in Gangtok, Sikkim, India. It is current home to United Sikkim Football Club. It is currently used mostly for association football matches. The stadium holds 30,000 people.HistoryOriginThe Paljor Stadium is popularly known as Polo Ground. Chogyal named it around 1943 because Britishers and few members of aristocratic family of Sikkim played at the Polo Ground. While tracing the history of Paljor Stadium it is indeed very difficult to ascertain its origin. The old timers recall this flat piece of land being used by the Tibetan traders to station their herds of Sheep en route to the Sikkim and India. Around 1939 one of the Political Officers, Sir Basil Gould had sanctioned Rs.3000 (approx $75.2634)to the Forest Department and ordered that the grass demonstration farm be set up there. Kikuyu Grass from Africa and Venezuela grass were grown for the soil binding, The whole task was completed in April 1941. Later Paljor Stadium proved to be a major venue of all public meeting including those of Prime ministers and religious leaders. The ground as been hosting the Independence day and republic day celebrations and also all major atheistic events.RenovationIt was on 24 July 1998 that a High Power state Committee constituted by the government took a decision to upgrade and renovate the existing Paljor Stadium. The project of redesigning and modernizing cost was around 30 Crores, out of which 15.36 Crores was from DONER contribution and remaining from the State coffer. The actual work started off in 2001. The modern look of the stadium was designed by M/S Architect Consultant Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata and its execution was assigned to Civil Engineers Enterprise Ltd. Kolkata. Initially the project was scheduled to be completed by March 2004, but owning the additional work the date was shifted to April 2005.