CUTTACK: The controversy over a proposed ring road passing through portions of the Tamando mini stadium in Bhubaneswar has taken a new turn with the Orissa High Court directing authorities on Friday to conduct a survey to explore how the playground can be preserved while going ahead with the project.
The proposed ring road has been planned from Tamando Square on NH-16 to Paikapur. Shivasakti Club, enlisted as a football club in Bhubaneswar functions in the mini stadium developed on government land by the Khurda administration. It has a 400-metre track, a football field, a volleyball court, pull-up bars, parallel bars and sand marked place for practicing long jump and high jump.
However, the single judge bench of Justice Biswanath Rath remitted the matter back to the principal secretary, Works department on January 2, 2023, for taking a lawful decision on the representation of the petitioner. The controversy returned to the high court with Shivasakti Club filing a petition, this time by way of a PIL. On August 18, the HC directed chief engineer (Roads) of the Works department to be present in person on August 25 to assist the court in getting a clear picture of the issue.
After hearing chief engineer (Roads) Manoranjan Mishra and petitioner counsel Bini Mishra, the division bench of Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra and Justice Savitri Ratho directed to conduct the survey while fixing September 13 as next date for further consideration of the matter.
The bench directed the chief engineer (Roads) to conduct a survey, with the help of technical experts of the Sports department and find out the exact area that would be extracted out of the playground area for the ring road to see whether the core area for sporting activities is being affected.
The bench also directed the chief engineer (Roads) to find out with the help of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) officials whether some land from their control or some vacant land belonging to private individuals, can be acquired adjacent to the playground and added to it so ongoing sporting activities can continue there.The chief engineer (Roads) stated before the court that realignment of the proposed ring road is not possible as it will affect plots already under use on both sides.