Officials on Wednesday said the War Heroes Memorial Stadium is expected to have an all-weather swimming pool and a renovated gymnastic hall by the end of the month for Khelo India Games.
Two of the sporting events for the Games–swimming and gymnastics–are scheduled to be organised at the venue at the end of March-end or the first week of April.
The 50 X 25-metre pool is being constructed at a cost of around ₹25 crores and is almost ready and is awaiting a final test. The gymnastic hall, meanwhile, has been renovated at a cost of ₹7.5 crore, with new equipment being installed, but has few leakage issues.
Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department director Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Pankaj Nain, who inspected the venues on Wednesday, said the officials concerned have been told to complete the pending tasks by the end of this month and hand over charge to the sports department thereafter.
“The world-class Olympic-size swimming pool, first in Haryana and other facilities at the site will make Ambala a sports hub in coming years. All the security parameters will be reviewed by an audit team before the games are allowed here,” Nain said after the inspection.
Sports director refused to comment on football stadium scam
The director, however, refused to comment on the alleged scam surrounding an under-construction international football stadium on the same campus. “The construction is being carried out by the Public Works Department,” he responded.
The FIFA-approved stadium worth ₹117 crore with a capacity of 3,700 spectators is already under the lens of the government, with three officials being suspended including the then executive engineer earlier this month.
The government has also constituted a six-member committee to inspect or re-investigate works awarded by the Public Works Department (PWD) to the company for the construction of the football stadium among at least 60 other projects in the state.
The said committee will also be responsible to examine the safety of the steel structure of the stadium from Punjab Engineering College/NIT Kurukshetra/IIT Delhi or IIT Madras.
Officials said work on the project is 85% complete, with work pending for the VIP lounge, synthetic track and tiling.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader from Haryana Democratic Front Chitra Sarwara, in a statement, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation or Comptroller and Auditor General-led investigation into the alleged ₹46 crore scam.
