Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 3: In a bid to develop sporting facilities in his state, the Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday announced setting up of a world-class Tamil Nadu Olympic City in Chennai, a dedicated Motorsports City, and a push to bring Formula 1 to Chennai to push tourism in the state.
Mr Vijay made the announcements under Rule 110 in the State Assembly. As per the updates from the Nadu CMO, the Olympic City will be developed by the Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority and will feature world-class sports arenas, state-of-the-art sporting equipment, a High Performance Training Centre, and dedicated Sports Science and Sports Medicine centres.
The Vijay government has also identified three sites for the proposed Assembly-Secretariat complex in Chennai, and a final decision is expected before the end of the current month. The sites identified by the government are: the Highways Research Station (HRS) in Guindy; a residential colony established by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board in Pattinapakkam (Foreshore Estate); and the plot once occupied by the now-defunct Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (IDPL) in Nandambakkam.
The 102-year-old Tamil Nadu legislature has been holding its sittings at Chennai’s Fort St. George, a prominent vestige of the colonial era, for most of these years. The Fort has also been the prime seat of power of the State government. Yet, the idea of shifting the Assembly-Secretariat complex to different places caught the attention of the authorities at different points of time.
More than 40 years ago, the authorities had spotted the inadequacy of Fort St. George in accommodating the requirements of a growing welfarist government, which has been co-existing with the legislature. In May 1983, the then AIADMK government, headed by M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), issued an order to raise a structure that would house the Secretariat. But, this was given up subsequently.
Two of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s predecessors, Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, had attempted to shift the Secretariat from the existing Fort St. George. While Jayalalithaa’s efforts were futile, Karunanidhi had constructed a new Secretariat building at the Omandurar Government Estate, but Jayalalithaa, upon returning to power in 2011, had converted it into a multi-speciality hospital.
Nearly 20 years later, MGR’s successor, Jayalalithaa, suddenly floated the idea of building an Administrative City near Mamallapuram on the outskirts of the city, as she told the Assembly in May 2002 that the present Secretariat complex was not sufficient. She also pointed out that one-third of the area was taken up by the defence forces (which, along with the Archaeological Survey of India, hold control of the complex). Even as her government pursued this idea, she announced, a year later, that the 30-acre Queen Mary’s College complex would be the site for the Secretariat. However, the plan did not work till date.
“World class, Olympics standard infra and training structure with residential facility will be built. This will help Chennai host international events and to churn out Olympians,” Vijay said.
Mr Vijay told the Assembly that the Olympic City would also have modern infrastructure, including accommodation for sportspersons and coaches. The Olympic City will be established to create an integrated sports hub to provide athletes with advanced training and support facilities, to help sportspersons from Tamil Nadu win more medals at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events.
The Chief Minister further announced that a dedicated motorsports city will be established in Chennai to host Formula 1-4 races in the city. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) in June this year created a task force which monitors motor sports with a vision to bring back Formula 1 racing in the country by the end of 2028.
“We will try to bring back F1 in India by 2028. For this, we created a task force which monitors motor sports in the country and submits its report to the Ministry,” government sources said. The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) President Arindam Ghosh earlier this year attended a meeting with the Sports Ministry in New Delhi and said efforts were underway to bring Formula 1 back to India by 2030, a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and MotoGP by 2028.
At the FMSCI Annual Awards function later, Ghosh said, “The meeting with Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State Raksha Khadse, senior officials and potential stakeholders in New Delhi, focused primarily on bringing F1, MotoGP and a round of the WRC to India.”
“The Federation stressed the need to develop Indian drivers and the overall development of motorsports in India, and the FMSCI’s inputs were well received,” he added. During the Awards Night in Bengaluru, all Motorsports National champions for 2025 were honoured, and 137 trophies across 17 disciplines, both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, were presented. Awards were also given to the winning teams, promoters and sponsors of the 17 National championships.