Bhubaneswar: Soon after the State Cabinet took the decision to construct 89 multipurpose indoor stadiums at different urban areas, the Sports and Works Departments are in action mode to execute the decision on the ground.
Sports and Youth Services Secretary R Vineel Krishna has written a letter to his colleague in the Works Department, Dr. Krishan Kumar for taking necessary steps to execute the decision of the Cabinet.
“This is to intimate that the State Cabinet has approved construction of Multi-Purpose Indoor Stadium in 89 locations in the state. The details of the projects were shared with the office of the Chief Engineer (Buildings) earlier and designs finalised after multiple rounds of meetings and site visits,” Krishna said in his letter.
Soon after receiving the letter, the Works Department has asked the Officer on Special Duty (Buildings) to initiate action for construction of the stadiums.
To strengthen sports infrastructure for indoor games, the State Cabinet on August 9 had decided to construct 89 multipurpose indoor stadiums at different urban areas across the state with an investment of Rs 693.35 crore.
These stadiums will be taken up in 85 urban local bodies (ULBs) areas including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela under the 5T Initiative to transform the sports infrastructure in Odisha.
These indoor stadiums, to be built for multi-purpose utility, will have facilities for playing Badminton, Table Tennis, Yoga, Gymnasium, etc. The indoor hall space can be utilised for most of the indoor games and converted as per the local popularity of various indoor sports. The stadiums will be completed over next 18 months.
The stadiums to be named as Biju Patnaik Indoor Stadium will come up at three municipal corporations viz. Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela, 30 municipalities and 52 NACs.
The state government will spend Rs10.15 crore for construction of each stadium at municipal corporation towns and municipalities while Rs 6.40 crore will be spent for building one such stadium in NAC. The multi-purpose indoor stadiums will foster sports development in the State.
The indoor stadiums, designed to withstand wind speed upto 200 kmph, can also be utilised as community shelters during disasters like cyclones, floods etc. In times of pandemics, the stadium can be converted into a 50-bed (NAC model) or 100-bed (municipality model) field hospital too