The multi-purpose indoor stadium is yet to witness a formal inauguration more than two years after its construction.
Tiruvarur has produced many meritorious sports personalities who have done the region and nation proud in national and international arenas. Sports enthusiasts yearned for a proper indoor facility to foster practitioners of various sports and games. Tiruvarur remained one of the districts in the State that did not have a proper indoor stadium when the idea to construct it emanated in 2005.
It was decided to construct the indoor stadium at Thandalai, behind the District Collector’s office in the Collectorate master complex where the open stadium is located.
The then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who is now the sitting MLA from Tiruvarur, laid the foundation stone for the indoor stadium on July 27, 2010 when he visited Tiruvarur for declaring open the Government Medical College.
Soon construction began and was completed with the State Government contributing Rs. 95 lakh and the public pooling together a further Rs. 35 lakh. The Oil and Natural Gas Commission on contributed Rs. 23 lakh for construction of galleries and other facilities inside the stadium, over and above the sanctioned estimate of Rs. 1.30 crore.
Facilities in the indoor stadium included basketball, volleyball, kabaddi, badminton, and taekwondo courts. Wooden floors have been laid for the entire basketball court expanse. There are refreshment and rest rooms for players and administrators in the indoor stadium.
Enquiries revealed that the local sports officials have written to the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu which is the nodal agency to push the case a long time back and have despatched reminders as well. But nothing has moved in the past two years for throwing open the facility to the public.
“It defies logic to keep the facility under lock and key for so long after completion. We went round streets of Tiruvarur to collect money as public contribution. We are very sad that it is wallowing in neglect,” rues secretary of the Tiruvarur District Badminton Association V. Kesavan. “We want to know why there is inordinate delay in opening the indoor stadium,” he adds.
