A section of youngsters under the banner ‘Kottur/Kotturpuram Children and Youth’ came together to protest the lack of sports facilities in the area. They said a popular playground in the locality had been converted into a park, and an indoor stadium within it was kept locked despite petitions to the government.
The youth complained that the once popular ‘ABCD playground’ located at Kottur Gardens 1st Cross Street, just behind former Minister Durai Murugan’s residence, had for long been the only playground available for outdoor sports in the locality. Despite protests from residents, it was developed into a children’s park with an indoor stadium facility during the administration of former mayor M. Subramaniam.
But now, even the indoor stadium has been kept locked.
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Gowtham, a resident of Kottur, complained that the stadium, equipped with a badminton court and constructed at a cost of Rs. 40 lakh from MP’s Local Area Development Fund in 2001, is locked for no particular reason. At one point, the indoor sports facility was allotted to a women’s self-help group in the locality, he added.
The youth forum complained that the officials of the Chennai Corporation had without any valid reason converted the open space reservation used as a playground from 1970s into a park for children and senior citizens.
In a letter to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa dated December 2013, the members of the youth federation complained that despite giving a representation to Mayor Saidai Duraisamy seeking to convert the park into a playground, no action has been taken to renovate and open the indoor stadium for public use.
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