Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi, that saw the infusion of over Rs 500 crore to get it ready for third Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG), also hosted World Junior Badminton Championship in October. With no sporting event lined up at the venue for November, the state directorate of sports got a novel idea to meet the Rs 10-crore annual maintenance bill.

For three days, from November 28 to 30, the wrestling stadium of the Balewadi sports complex witnessed an event that had nothing even remotely connected to sports —shooting of Marathi serial “Home Minister.”

The next event chalked out at the sports complex, this time at the athletics stadium, is a public function. The Nirmal Gram Puraskar will be attended by President Pratibha Patil on December 8. Thereafter, on December 15, the athletics stadium has again been rented out to a private firm where they are going to hold a workshop on healthcare.

“The state government is giving only Rs one crore for the maintenance of the complex. So we are hosting such non-sporting events to meet the expenses. Such things are common in the US and other countries where sport stadiums are given out for other activities,” Director of Sports, Laxmikant Deshmukh, told The Indian Express.

President of Indian Olympic Association Suresh Kalmadi said he was not aware of it. “I think such non-sporting events should not happen at this venue. Sharad Pawar and I are planning to work out some proposals to have international athletes use this stadium regularly and also have the government shell out more towards maintenance. It is yet in the preliminary stage,” he said.

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