Bhubaneswar: A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced to sponsor the national hickey team for 10 more years, Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian and Sports Secretary R Vineel Krishna on Wednesday left for Rourkela to review progress of construction of Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, which will be India’s largest hockey stadium.
Notably, the CM had laid the foundation stone of the stadium, which will be the second venue along with Kalinga Stadium for Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 that Odisha will host for the second time in a row, in February along with infrastructure development projects worth Rs 4915 crore,
Around Rs 120 crore is being spent by the government on a state-of-the-art structure with a chaired seated capacity exceeding 20,000.
The stadium will be a model of green, functional, cost-effective design. Each seat will have uninterrupted sightlines and the spectators will be closer to the pitch than at any other hockey stadium in the world.
Besides, astroturf facilities in all 17 blocks will also provide a big boost for the development of hockey in Sundargarh district.
Meanwhile, the high-level team faced protest over alleged land irregularities in Civil Township. The protesting workers of BJP’s Panposh organisational district were later picked up by police.
President of BJP’s Panposh organisational district Latika Patnaik said, “As 5T secretary has come to Rourkela, we wanted to ask him about the scam and demand action against those involved, but we were stopped from doing so.”
