CUTTACK: The legal battle over construction of a ring road through the Tamando mini stadium in Bhubaneswar has been resolved with the chief engineer (roads) of state Works department assuring the Orissa High Court that the playground area will be protected while proceeding with the project.
The Khurda district administration had developed the mini stadium on government land. It has a 400 metre track, a football field, a volleyball court, pull up bars, parallel bars and sand-marked place made to practice long jump and high jump. The proposed project involved construction of a ring road from Tamando Square on NH-16 to Paikapur through portions of the playground area.
Shivasakti Club, enlisted as a Football club in Bhubaneswar which functions in the mini stadium raised the legal dispute over it by way of a PIL. While seeking intervention the club contended that it was not opposed to construction of the ring road but only wanted parts of the mini stadium to be excluded from the project by realignment of the course of the road.
While closing the PIL on September 27, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra said chief engineer (roads) Manoranjan Mishra informed the court that the Works department had modified and revised allocation of the land for protecting the playground by making the necessary adjustments. He also said the revised map has been communicated to the director of Sports & Youth Affairs. It was evident from the revised map that an amount of additional land has been allocated for expansion and development of the playground.
Petitioner counsel Bini Mishra stated that the petitioner will not have any objection if the proposed modified area with adjustment as reflected in the map is acted upon. “On accepting the mutually agreed development plan that there would be no substantive change in the core area of the playground and the road alignment with its embankment, we close this writ petition with hope that the modified and revised land plan will not imbibe any resentment,” the bench observed. The court asked the petitioner club to cooperate with the department for time-bound implementation of the work.