Two decades on, Chmarajanagar stadium remains a distant dream

Chamarajnagar: All the district headquarters in the State have full-fledged stadiums except this backward Chamarajanagara.

Though the work on a new stadium to facilitate sporting events like cricket, hockey, basketball, football etc., still remains unfinished. Any government project costing below Rs 10 crore should be completed in 2-3 years. But in the case of Chamarajanagara stadium, 21 years have gone by without much progress, thanks to utter negligence of officials of sports and youth services department. The government has spent crores of rupees but whatever structures have come up are already in a dilapidated state.

It was in 1999 during the tenure of Vatal Nagaraj, an independent MLA, the district administration allotted 25 acres of lake land for the stadium and another three acres for a bus stand.

It was planned to build a stadium on international standards for all sports. Though a few indoor game facilities have been constructed, infrastructure for outdoor events is still pending. The unfinished audience gallery structures have already reached crumbling stage.

The government has spent more than Rs 15 crore in the last two decades but the completion requires more money. The Union government sanctioned Rs 3.20 crore for the stadium and another Rs 5.50 crore for a synthetic athletic track. Owing to poor maintenance, the athletic track is on the verge of decay and sports equipment are gathering rust. There are no signs of construction of a swimming pool which is part of the original plan. The toilets have fallen in disuse due to lack of water connection. In another example of apathy of sports officials, the stadium has no drinking water facility so far. The officials, district minister, MLAs and other dignitaries visit the stadium to hoist national flag on such occasions as Independence Day and Republic day.

Speaking to The Hans India, stadium committee member and Mysuru university former cricket player V Srinivas Prasad alleged rampant corruption in the construction of the stadium. The contractor and the officials concerned were hand-in-glove, he said and urged the authorities black-list the contractor and complete the remaining work on their own.

N Ramakrishna , an athlete, said that the district has tens of national and State level sports persons. But lack of a full-fledged stadium is affecting buddying sports talents. He said the authorities should complete the construction work to support sportspersons.