Kerala - Kannur   

CPI(M) asked to desist from move to use stadium

Staff Reporter

Stadium renovation cost Rs.19 lakh: Sudhakaran

KANNUR: K. Sudhakaran, MLA, has appealed to the Communist Party of India(Marxist) (CPI-M) district leadership here to abstain from any move to forcibly use the recently renovated Municipal Jawahar Stadium for holding an anti-imperialist rally on August 31 as has been announced by some party leaders.

The issue of Kannur municipality's denial of permission for using the stadium has snowballed into a confrontation between the local body and the CPI(M) here.

The United Democratic Front (UDF)-ruled council continued to stick to its earlier decision that the stadium be used only for sports activities.

The council in its last meeting recently witnessed heated exchanges between UDF members and the CPI(M) over the issue. When the chairman announced the council's decision to abide by its earlier decision, LDF members walkout from the meeting.

Mr. Sudhakaran said that the stadium was renovated under his initiative as the Sports Council sanctioned Rs.19 lakh for the works that included turfing, fencing and tracking. The municipality in its agreement with the Sports Council quoted the council's unanimous decision on April 2, 2004 that the stadium would not be given for events other than sports activities. As per that decision the municipality had denied permission to use the stadium for holding a function attended by Mata Amrithanandamayi and an Id namaz, he said.

"The CPI(M) leadership should seriously think whether the newly renovated stadium should be destroyed by allowing it to be opened for a rally attended one lakh people," he said. He was voicing the concern of the people of the town, including a section in the CPI(M). Stressing that the council was a quasi-government body, the MLA said that its decision could only be changed by the Tribunal for Local Self-Government Institutions. The party should desist from any move to misuse the Government's power to tide over the municipality's decision, he said.

Mr. Sudhakaran said he would fax his memorandum to the Chief Minister and the Sports Minister demanding that steps be taken to prevent any move by CPI(M) workers to forcibly occupy the stadium for holding the rally.

Asked about the CPI(M)'s charge that the municipal authorities had taken nearly two months to intimate their decision on its request forwarded in June last, Mr. Sudhakaran said that there was a grave lapse on the part of municipal officers for the time gap between the receipt of the CPI(M) request and its producing before municipal chairman K. Upendran. Officers responsible for the delay should be punished, he said.

Those who raise allegations of irregularities and corruption in the stadium renovation works could persuade the Sports Council to conduct an inquiry, he added.

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