Kulathupuzha: Efforts are underway to revive the stalled construction of the multi-crore indoor stadium, sprawling across a 16-acre plot under the Kulathupuzha Grama Panchayat. A meeting chaired by MLA C Ajayaprasad at the panchayat hall resolved to clear the bottlenecks and get the project back on track. The MLA stated that an official meeting with the Finance Department has been scheduled for the 19th to secure the release of designated MLA funds.

The project, with an estimated cost of ₹3 crore, is being executed by the public sector undertaking Kerala Electrical & Allied Engineering Company Limited (KEL). The grama panchayat had earmarked ₹2 crore for the project, out of which ₹1.60 crore has already been disbursed to KEL. However, the ₹1 crore sanctioned from the MLA Local Area Development Fund has hit procedural delays and is yet to be released.

The MLA’s upcoming meeting with Finance Department officials aims to break this financial impasse. During the meeting, the panchayat governing body announced its willingness to release ₹20 lakh out of its remaining ₹39 lakh share. While existing statutory norms restrict a local self-government body from exhausting its full funding share without the parallel release of tied funds from other agencies, the panchayat leadership informed KEL that it would release the ₹20 lakh immediately if the agency agreed to restart work without waiting for the full settlement. According to KEL, nearly 60% of the stadium's construction is already complete.

Agency representatives informed the meeting that only the installation of the indoor tracks and minor finishing tasks remain. Explaining the halt in operations, KEL officials cited unpaid dues from the Finance Department for works worth ₹60 lakh carried out in March. While the department clears contractors' bills on a priority basis and had settled dues up to March, sources indicated that KEL’s submission of bills was delayed until July, leading to the current payment backlog.