THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The proceedings to auction the Greenfield International Stadium here, which until recently occupied a pride of place as a premium sports arena, are under way. Two companies have reportedly submitted bids to take part in the auction process.
The Karyavattom Sports Facilities Limited (KSFL), a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), which ran the Greenfield international stadium aka Sports Hub, has been liquidated. The IL&FS group, which operates over 100 subsidiaries, was under a staggering `94,000 crore debt. In April 2019, the former vice-chairman of IL&FS, was arrested by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in Mumbai for alleged misappropriation at many subsidiaries in the country.
According to a source, the stadium is now under the control of the National Company Law Tribunal. The legal proceedings, which are currently on to acquire the stadium, will take a while, the source added.
“The stadium is under legal purview. The proceedings for its takeover are on. KSFL is a subsidiary company of IL&FS . This company has been liquidated. It suffered cash shortage and defaulted on repayment of bank loans (including interest), term and short-term deposits and also failed to meet commercial paper redemption obligations. It was reported that the firm had been served notices for delays and defaults in servicing some of the inter-corporate deposits received by it,” said a source.
Earlier, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) had withdrawn the agreement with KSFL after the latter agreed to conduct the Army Recruitment Rally at the stadium. Following this, a one-day international (ODI) series between the women’s teams of India and South Africa scheduled for March this year was cancelled. Recently, the nod from the district administration to political parties to stage events at Greenfield further undermined the future prospects of the stadium. When the issue set off a row, then minister Kadakampally Surendran had flayed the move by the stadium operator on his Facebook page.
The 37 acre facility, which has been built at a cost of Rs 161 crore on public-private partnership mode, can accommodate up to 50,000 people. The fixed and folding seats enhance the experience of the spectators.The stadium, constructed in adherence to the FIFA and International Cricket Council (ICC) standards, is tailor-made for both football and cricket.
When the stadium was inaugurated in 2015 as part of the National Games hosted by Kerala, there were major expectations for sports lovers here as well as in the state. The manner in which T20 matches and ODIs were conducted was widely appreciated by many, including Sachin Tendulkar and former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. However, the stadium is currently in a mess, thanks to non-sporting activities being staged there.