A brainchild of Chhatrapati awardee Ramesh Damle, the proposed sports complex is to be built on 32 acres at the Maharashtra Mandal's Chandrashekhar Agashe College of Physical Education, Gultekdi. Just 6 km from the railway station.

The ambitious project features an Olympic size swimming pool with four diving boards, an eight-lane 800-metre running track, two long jump pits, six lawn tennis courts, two courts each for volleyball, basketball, kabaddi and kho-kho and one football and hockey field. Along with this, the proposed project also has plans for a four-storey hostel, a multi-purpose hall-cum-gymnasium for indoor games, and a kilometre-long jogging track along the border of the complex with floodlights.

The complex is estimated to cost about Rs 5 crores, for which the Maharashtra Mandal has asked for grants from the Central Government. ``We expect to get the green signal in a month or so,'' informs Nayana Nimkar, principal, Chandrashekhar Agashe College.

The land, until now lying idle, was given by the State Government on perpetual lease to late Capt. Shivrampant Damle in 1958 for the development of sports. ``It was a stone quarry when it was handed over to my father,'' informed Ramesh Damle. ``He had this dream of developing it into a `one-stop-sports' complex. ``He started the Pune Vyayamsala here in 1963 and in 1977 set up the Physical Education college, along with a Marathi pre-primary and primary school and the English medium high school''.

The entire project is expected to be completed in about five years. The first phase will see the completion of the running track, the long jump pits and the lawn tennis courts by June-end. ``We plan to inaugurate the running track by hosting the next inter-university athletics championship,'' said Nimkar.

The second phase will see work for the kho-kho, kabaddi, basketball, handball and the volleyball courts and swimming pool in two years time. The third phase will include completion of the hockey field, the jogging track and floodlights along the 32 acre land and overall landscaping.

Going by the gradual dilapidation of the multi-crore Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex due to lack of maintenance, the Maharashtra Mandal already has better plans for the commercialisation of their sports complex.

Since it is in private hands, the Maharashtra Mandal plans to name the various stadiums after the sponsors. ``Although we have not finalised the maintenance projects, we plan to have various attractive schemes for the sports persons,'' said Ramesh Damle, adding, ``We are also thinking of offering sponsorship proposals to the big commercial giants and others who are interested, for naming the various stadiums. This will ensure a continuous flow of money to help us maintain the complex well''.

It will be a treat for the sports-loving Puneites to have another, but a close to the heart of city, complex.