Vijayapura: As soon as the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) makes arrangements to resume the construction works next month, the Velodrome project which has been suspended for nearly two years will be resumed.
The work for the project was halted in 2018 by the authorities due to technical and financial hiccups.
Now, the district administration has approached the architects of a private firm in Hyderabad to assist the department to build the international standard hi-tech velodrome in the outskirts of Bijapur City.
Detailing a report on the half-built stadium, the officials of DYES have also written a letter to the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) of Pune Later this month, a team of experts from the CFI is expected to visit.
The state government approved the construction of the first hi-tech 393.33m velodrome with international standards at an estimated cost of Rs 7.6 crore in 2015 after agreeing to the request of local, international and national-level cyclists and its association. The stadium is being built to train young talents and to host national level competitions. The construction of teh stadium was discontinued after two and half years due to technical problems despite laying the foundation work in the same year.
“We have approached the experts of CFI Pune to visit the velodrome site and give a detailed report about. Apart from that, we are also bringing skilled labourers from Bihar to develop velodrome. The construction work will start in January,” said S. G Loni, Assistant Director of DYES.
With the authorities have delayed the construction of the velodrome, the cyclists are forced to practice at the national and state highways. A few years ago, there was an incident involving a local cyclist dying in an accident while practising on the road.
Raju Biradar, national-level cyclists and vice-president of Karnataka State Cycling Association said, “Though Bijapur is known as the Mecca of Indian Cycling, there are hardly any facilities for the professional cyclists in the district. Every year a good number of budding cyclists make it to the national team from Karnataka, but we don’t have single velodrome to train emerging cyclists. We are exhausted with the behaviour of the authorities. Other than assurance no major development has witnessed. However, the new Deputy Commissioner is showing keen interest in resuming the works, hope at least this time the work commences”.
DC P Sunil Kumar said in a statement that there was no point of revising the project cost as the contractors have assured to complete the project within the sanction grants. “We are seeking the expert’s advice to resume the work. We are committed to complete the project, which is aimed to benefit the budding cyclists”. he added.
