'Multi-purpose stadium under Khelo India to come up in Una district'

shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government is building a hi-tech indoor stadium at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Degree College Bangana in Una District with an estimated cost of Rs 631.62 lakh, minister for rural development Virender Kanwar said here on Friday.

The first-of-its-kind indoor stadium, which was being funded by the Central government under Khelo India programme will come up in an area 2,475.46 sq metres.There will be 730.18 sq meters basement and 1,745.28 sq meters ground floor. The programme is aimed to achieve excellence in sports in rural and backwards areas of Una and adjoining areas.

The minister said that an award letter was issued to the construction agency in February 2022 and work on this stadium is in full swing, which is likely to be completed by the year 2023.

"This indoor stadium will identify sports talent and nurture it with the backing of top-notch sports infrastructure in various disciplines like badminton, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, kabaddi, hockey, kho kho courts and wrestling to produce sports champions at the international level" he said. The courts that are in more demand by the athletes will be developed first and are likely to be completed by December 2022.

A meeting with the officials from the department of youth empowerment and sports will be convened shortly. In addition, toilets, a dressing room,yoga meditation hall, fitness centre, juice bar and other facilities will be provided in the indoor stadium. He said that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) will employ around 5 finest coaches in the indoor stadium by December to improve the sports culture.