Kerala: Sports department plans new shooting academy

Thiruvananthapuram: The sports department has floated tenders for new equipment including rifles to start a new academy at Vattiyoorkavu shooting range in the coming months.

If all goes according to plan, the new academy will be started after the National Shooting Championship scheduled here in December. The academy would be run directly by the department in association with National and State Rifle Associations, said Sanjayan Kumar, Director of Sports and Youth Affairs.

The new procurement will include essentials for target practice, guards to protect sensitive equipment and new rifle among others.

“Rookies cannot be allowed to practice on existing devices in the range. The targets and sensors here were imported from a Swiss firm and they might get spoiled,” explained a caretaker.

The shooting range which was first opened during the National Games in 2015 remained shut most of the time barring during competitions. Earlier in 2016, a tender was floated to find a private consortium to run the shooting range. However this could not materialise due to legal tussles.

Several District shooting Associations went to the high court after a consortium involving New Delhi based Top gun Company won that contract.  

The cost of running the range – Rs 4.5 lakh per month -was considered huge. Apart from the massive electricity consumption, there was also the house keeping expenses.