Odisha Govt Spent Rs 261 Cr For Construction Of Birsa Munda Stadium From Own Sources: Minister

Bhubaneswar: The Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium at Rourkela, which co-hosted the last Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup, was constructed with a cost of Rs 261.76 crore.

This was stated by Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera in reply to a question of BJP legislator Subash Panigrahi in the Assembly on Thursday.

Stating that the Odisha government met the total cost of the stadium at Rourkela in Sundargarh district from own sources, the minister said the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports did not allocate any fund for the project.

He further said the state government spent Rs 124.94 crore from its own budget and Rs 136.82 crore from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund. The project work was executed by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), a state PSU, he added.

It may be noted that the stadium, which was completed in a record 15 months, created Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest fully seated hockey stadium. It has a seating capacity of 20,011.

The Birsa Munda Stadium along with Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar hosted the Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup in January.