‘Sports infra to be developed under Smart City'

Karnataka Sports Authority Vice President K P Purushottam said the sports infrastructure in the city would be developed under the Smart City Programme.

“Three projects - construction of pavilion in Mangala stadium, at a cost of Rs 10 crore; an indoor stadium for kabaddi and shuttle badminton, near Urwa Market, at Rs 35 crore and a state-of-the-art swimming pool in Yemmekere at a cost of Rs 24.40 crore were planned under the Smart City Mission’’, Purushottam informed members at an interactive meeting organised at U S Mallya Indoor Stadium on Thursday.

Funds have also been released for the development of taluk sports grounds, ‘Garadi Mane’ (local gymnasium), sports hostels and sports equipment in various schools in rural areas, he said.

Mangala Swimming Pool Instructor Dharmendra said that the students should be given priority. Handball association representative R Dhanraj said there was a need for a proper indoor stadium.

Badminton Association members said the U S Mallya Indoor stadium required a facelift. An office-bearer of Hockey association said that there were no proper grounds for hockey in the city, despite hockey being our national sport. Spokespersons for many sports associations pointed out that there was a lack of coaches and instructors in Mangaluru.

Purushottam said he had assumed charge two months ago and was inspecting the condition of sports infrastructure in districts across the state. There are limited resources with sports department. The demands from sportspersons and sports associations will be drawn to the notice of authorities. There has been a demand for land to build sports hostels and stadiums, he noted.

Youth Empowerment and Sports Department Deputy Director Pradeep D’Souza, Smart City Architect Venkatesh Pai and Smart City Engineer Raghavendra were present.