KOLLAM: The renovation of the Kollam Lal Bahadur stadium remains an unfulfilled dream of the sports lovers for the past 22 years.
Apathy on the part of the Corporation authorities is the main hurdle for the realisation of the dream. The renovation work of the stadium was started in 1987 in connection with the National Games. The track and field events as part of the Games were held in the stadium. Flood-lit arrangements were made in the stadium when the Santhosh Trophy Football championship for the year 1988 was held here. In the finals Punjab beat Kerala in the tie-breaker.
The renovation project also envisaged the construction of a pavilion and the laying of a 400m synthetic track. An indoor stadium and a swimming pool adjacent to the stadium had also been planned as part of constructing a sports complex and land was acquired for the same.
It was at the initiative of some prominent citizens and Rotary Club, the construction work of the stadium started in 1958 and by 1960, a gallery with 18 steps was completed. It was named after Lal Bahdur Shastri, who was the Prime Minister of India just before the national football championship for the Santhosh Trophy was held here in 1966.
The collection record for the Kerala Vs Andhra semi finals has not yet been broken. The match turned a controversial one and Andhra won in the replay. In the finals, Andhra lifted the trophy by beating Bengal. After that the LB stadium became the venue of many all-India football tournaments for the KFA Shield. It was in this stadium, the Kerala Junior team lifted the B C Roy Trophy in 1971. The National Athletic championship in 1975 was also held here.
By considering the importance of the stadium, the committee of prominent citizens which managed the stadium handed it over to the Kollam Municipal Council for development.
K Thankappan Vakil, who was the chairman of the Municipal Council, prepared a project and started the work.
However, after his death, the project did not materialise and it was revived only during the National Games in 1987. The three foundation stones laid for the construction of the pavilion - one by S Krishnakumar, the former Union Minister, the second one, by P Rajendran, the former MP, and the third one, by Sabeetha Begum, the first Mayor of Kollam Corporation- are seen in front of the stadium as the monuments of the apathy and inaction of the Corporation authorities.
The Corporation has allocated Rs 1 crore for starting the renovation work. But the authorities have failed to give a satisfactory explanation for delaying the work.
(to be continued)