KOCHI: Once a gallery of dreams that nurtured promising clubs and players and hosted several tournaments, the Dr Ambedkar Stadium lies neglected. And worse, fast degrading.
Football matches and camps are now being held in an ill-maintained synthetic turf amid overgrown bushes and heaps of waste in all corners of the venue in the heart of Kochi.
“The stadium was actively used for several leagues, age-category tournaments, selection trials, national events and more during the early days. After the synthetic turf came up in 2015, it was still used very well, until a lack of maintenance ruined the stadium,” said P P Thobias, who was an integral part of the celebrated Kerala and Kerala Police teams of the past.
“The field is badly damaged; the area near the goalposts has especially become dangerous. When it rains, the entire turf gets flooded. The authorities should urgently do the needful to revive the stadium,” he said.
The push for the renovation of the Ambedkar Stadium – located at the eastern end of Rajaji Road – had started a long time ago and the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), which owns the venue, had included the project to revamp the entire premises into a multi-sports facility in their past three budget plans. Alas, nothing concrete has been done so far, except the demolition of the gallery.
“The project needs around-Rs 100 crore, which is beyond the budget of GCDA. We are expecting to channel further development via CSR funding, but approval is on hold right now. And that is delaying the renovation,” a senior GCDA official said.
Commissioned in the ‘70s, the football field on the 6.5-acre ground was renovated with an artificial turf under a FIFA project in 2015. But once the novelty of an all-weather playing surface faded, the arena has remained neglected.
In the past, the facility was largely used by the Customs and Central Excise (CCE) football team in the ‘90s and later by the Kerala Football Association for their tournaments and training sessions. The KFA had also previously expressed their interest in the stadium development several times, but was rejected by GCDA.
“The authorities never initiated any maintenance of the turf,” said former international footballer M M Jacob, who was also the coach of the CCE team for a long time.
“There was a time in the mid-90s, and later, when the Customs and Central Excise maintained the ground beautifully. The matches there also attracted a lot of spectators. Now, it has become a hub of anti-social activities. It is high time the state government intervened in the issue.”
Under the ambitious `96-crore ‘Mini Sports City’ proposed to come up in the area, the artificial turf is planned to be converted into a natural grass field and the gallery rebuilt with a capacity of 10,000, besides installing a proper drainage system. All that was supposed to be completed in 2025, but there appears little sign of the project taking off any time soon.
ill-maintained
Football matches and camps are now being held in an ill-maintained synthetic turf amid overgrown bushes and heaps of waste in all corners of the venue
Though the GCDA had included the project to revamp the entire premises into a multi-sports facility in their past three budget plans, nothing concrete has been done so far