Indoor stadium near India’s Kolkata city up for complete makeover

The nearly dead 50,000-square feet Howrah Indoor Stadium near India’s West Bengal state will be brought back to life as part of the provincial government’s ‘Sports City’ project announced a year ago, according a Times of India report.

The stadium was built in the 1980s in Howrah – the sister city of West Bengal’s capital Kolkata. The location of the stadium in the city’s Dumurjala area stands just 1.5 km from the state government headquarters. However, after hosting a couple of events, the stadium became nearly defunct due to defects in construction. It was handed over to Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), which till recently used it for commercial activities including short-term leasing out of television reality shows.

Soon after Dumurjala was designated as a proposed ‘Sports City’ by the state government last year, plans for uplifting the indoor stadium were set into motion. With a government grant of $2.7 million, work has begun on a complete makeover of the stadium. The design for the new stadium has been prepared by the country planning department of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, West Bengal.

HMC’s advisor on the project, Ramratan Chowdhury, said, “The seating capacity of the indoor stadium will be increased to 6,000 from the current 3,000. The 50,000sq ft stadium will be centrally air-conditioned. Part of its floor will be made of teak and the other part of synthetic wood. Most international stadia now have floors of synthetic wood. Besides, it will have two dressing rooms, a power room and a commentary box. The stadium premises will also have a guesthouse.”

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