The Rajiv Gandhi Mini Stadium at Thoppumpady will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday. This comes as a blessing for sports enthusiasts in the district as well as West Kochiites who have been demanding a stadium in the area for some time. The construction work was kicked off on January 23 by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. “The state-of-art stadium also boasts of various facilities, including a pavilion along with a dressing room. Steps have been constructed on either side of the pavilion where audience can be seated,” Kochi Corporation Mayor Tony Chammany said.
R Thyagarajan, chairman, Standing Committee for Education and Sports, Kochi Corporation said the stadium has been renamed as Rajiv Gandhi Mini Stadium in honour of the former Prime Minister who had visited the area in 1989.
The total construction cost of the project is `172.20 lakh. Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies K V Thomas had provided `84.47 lakh under the local developmental funds.
Charles Dias MP released approximately `37 lakh for the same. The works was implemented in two phases and included construction of a retaining wall, yard filling, construction of drains, compound wall, gates, juice stall, watchman cabin, plumbing and overhead tank.The Kochi Corporation had used `50 lakh from its balance works. The mini stadium has been constructed within 2 acres of land. The land given by the GCDA had been lying idle for more than 10 years. The land had been used as a driving practice ground in the early 1990’s.
As per Union Minister K V Thomas’s recommendations, who was then the MP, the land was taken over from the GCDA.
PWD Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju, Excise Minister K Babu, Dominic Presentation MLA, Deputy Mayor B Bhadra, TJ Vinod, chairman of the Development Standing Committee will also be present for the function.