Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Over 500 students from Navodaya Schools from across the country are at a risk as they are playing judo at TT Nagar Stadium's Judo Arena whose roof is damaged. Panels of the false ceiling have fallen off at many places, exposing plumbing and electrical wiring.
The three-day National Judo Meet 2026 of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti began at TT Nagar in the state capital on Tuesday.
Fifty-two students each from the 10 regions of Navodaya Schools including Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune and Shillong are participating. The stadium is run by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare.
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Ratibad, is hosting the event. Ranjita Malaviya, a trained graduate teacher, physical education, at JNV, told Free Press that they had booked the Judo Arena of TT Nagar stadium a month ago.
At that time, everything was fine. But when we visited the place a few days back, we found it in bad shape with exposed ceiling and detached panels.
We thought of shifting the venue to our school but there was not enough space there. So, we had no option but to hold the event here, she said.
Malaviya said that they tried to get approval for using the Badminton Hall at the stadium for the event but could not. A stadium official, however, claimed that the false ceiling posed no danger to the students.
Even if the panels fall off, they won't cause injuries as they are made of thermocol, he said. Meanwhile, young students continue to fight their rivals under the broken ceiling.
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Repair work was underway at the Arena. We had told Navodaya Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti that will have to use the facility at their own risk."
-Ravindra Thakur, assistant director, Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare, Bhopal
