Indoor stadium to be ready soon

DHARWAD:Indoor stadium to be ready soon

GURURAJ JAMKHANDI, TNN, Oct 11, 2010, 09.38pm IST

DHARWAD: The indoor stadium at Dharwad for which the foundation stone had been laid eight years ago is finally getting ready for the use of sportspersons. The jinxed stadium has seen several obstacles before being dedicated to the public. If everything goes according to the plan the stadium should be available for use latest by November end.

Deputy commissioner Darpan Jain, who visited the indoor stadium near R N Shetty stadium here, expressed confidence that the work will be completed in six weeks. When done, the stadium will have a seating capacity of 350, floodlight and generator to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

It was the dream of sports lovers in Dharwad to have an indoor stadium in the city to ensure that the sports activity does not get disrupted for a major part of the year due to rain.

The plan for the stadium was prepared way back in 2001 and the foundation stone was laid in August 2002.

The construction work was assigned to Karnataka Land Army but in the absence of funds flowing in, the work did not progress much.

Meanwhile, the 70-feet wall of the stadium collapsed on January 26, 2008 injuring one person. The mishap occurred when thousands of people had gathered to celebrate Republic Day at the R N Shetty stadium which is just a few meters away from the indoor stadium. The then DC M S Srikar had ordered an inquiry into the incident. A team of experts arrived from Bangalore on February 7, 2008 to find the cause of the collapse and reported that negligence on the part of construction agency had been responsible for the mishap.

DC Darpan Jain said the well-equipped stadium has come up at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. Jain informed that proposals have been sent to the government to sanction Rs 3.50 crore to develop a synthetic track at R N Shetty Stadium, and Rs 1 crore to construct a sports hostel.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has proposed to construct a complex at the Karnatak University premises, and the varsity has given the approval in principle to provide land for this purpose. All facilities will be provided here to conduct sports activities regularly.