SURAT, Dec 10: The name of the game is name-dropping. From Steffi Graf to Gabriela Sabatini and from Sachin Tendulkar to Lata Mangeshkar, all these stars have been supposed to be inaugurating the Surat Municipal Corporation's ambitious indoor stadium sometime or the other. The SMC is now settling for the readily available Gujarat chief minister of Gujarat, whose only sporting accomplishment is a tight-rope walk.After being postponed several times in the past one year, the stadium will now be finally thrown open to the public on December 18. But, contrary to earlier announcements, there will be no international sports personality or national leader cutting the ribbon.Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel will inaugurate the stadium at 5 pm on that day in the presence of Water Resources Minister Narottam Patel, Urban Development Minister Kaushik Patel, Youth and Cultural Minister Mahendra Trivedi and Law Minister Hemant Chapatwala.National and international sportspersons from Surat will be felicitated at the inauguration, which will be followed by a table tennis tournament. A musical programme is also scheduled to be held that day. Singer Sonu Nigam will be the main attraction in a function on December 20, tickets for which will be sold on December 19 and 20. Entry is free for the inauguration.In the absence of then municipal commissioner S R Rao, his Deputy Commissioner (special) D K Rao used to claim that a top international sports personality would be invited for the stadium's inauguration. Among the names he dropped were Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini; after his transfer, the elected wing opted for a more realistic Sachin Tendulkar.Though the inauguration was postponed several times, the SMC organised an Anu Malik night at the stadium to raise money for the cyclone-affected of Kandla.Just before the Bharuch by-election, standing committee chairman Ajay Choksi had announced that Union Home Minister L K Advani had agreed to inaugurate the stadium and that Human Resource Development Minister M M Joshi would attend a function on December 20. But now both the leaders have conveyed their inability to attend the function.The stadium has drawn flak from a section of councillors who describe it as a `white elephant' constructed at the cost of civic amenities. While a section claims that the SMC is the only civic body in the country to have constructed an indoor stadium - the third biggest in the country - critics point out if that Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi municipal corporations have not built any indoor stadium of this size, there was no need for the SMC to do so.Originally, the stadium was to be constructed for Rs 7.47 crore. Nine years after the foundation stone was laid, the actual cost came to Rs 30 crore. Though a day's function costs the stadium Rs 3.5 lakhs in maintenance, former standing committee chairman Narendra Gandhi says no cost is too high for such a prestigious project, adding that money could be generated through rents and life membership fees for the health club.
