Mani Majra Sports Complex: Phase I opens tomorrow
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 23
The indoor sports complex at Mani Majra — the third of its kind in the city — will be inaugurated by Member of Parliament Kirron Kher on May 25.
The phase I of the arena is almost complete and the Engineering Department is likely to hand it over to the Sports Department for maintenance on Friday.
The phase I of the project, which is spread over 15 acres, includes indoor arenas for badminton, table tennis and squash, besides a gymnasium hall and a swimming pool.
“The Mani Majra complex will be inaugurated on May 25. And on the same day or the next day, we will hand it over to the Sports Department,” said Chief Engineer Mukesh Anand.
He, however, refused to comment on the development of the phase II of the project. “Only the indoor arena will be inaugurated. It has been made on the similar pattern as the previous complexes (at Sector 43 and Sector 34),” Anand added.
As per the approved plan, athletics track, football pitch, handball courts, lawn tennis courts and basketball arena, along with adequate parking facility for the visitors, are to be developed in phase II and phase III of the project.
In 2015, out of the total budget of Rs 21.6 crore, a special grant of Rs 10 crore was allocated for this particular sports complex.
Also, the Municipal Corporation had agreed to provide 10 acre land to build this project. Since then, the project is under construction and after three years, the first phase is now ready.
“The Sports Department will surely take some time to open the arena for general public. It’s one of the dream projects of the department and extra manpower will be needed to look after this huge complex. There are no immediate plans to start work on phase II and III. Basically, it has nothing new to offer to the people and the Member of Parliament will inaugurate the complex only to grab public attention,” said a source in the Sports Department.
The Sector 43 and 34 sports complexes were handed over to the Sports Department within a day of their completion but it took around a month to recruit the staff there.
“Ideally, the Sports Department should be informed 15 days prior to the completion of the project so that it can recruit adequate staff for its maintenance,” said a top official, seeking anonymity.
Far from completion
The proposed synthetic athletics track at the complex — the first of its kind in Chandigarh — remains a distant dream. As per the plan, the arena proposes to have an eight-lane synthetic track with a football pitch in the centre. It also proposes to have provisions for pole vault, high jump and discus throw, besides having pits for long jump and triple jump competition. It also proposes to have a handball court, a basketball court and four lawn tennis courts. But all these facilities are said to be developed in the following phases and there is no clarity on when the work for phase-II and III will be taken up.
