The closed gates of Netaji Indoor Stadium are to reopen on Thursday after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s intervention to end the stalemate between finance minister Asim Dasgupta and sports minister Subhas Chakraborty that had held up allotment of funds for its repair.

Bhattacharjee, according to sources, has reined in— for now — Dasgupta and green-lighted the renovation programme, as well as the sports department’s proposal to reopen the stadium for a temporary period to cash in on the strong demand for bookings in the festive season.

The stadium has been closed from July 2003 for major repairs. According to sports department officials, the centralised air-conditioning system is not working properly and several portions of the civil structure are damaged. The repairs, however, could not be started for a paucity of funds.

The war of words and movement of files continued for about a month between Dasgupta, Chakraborty and PWD minister Amar Chowdhury. But that did not open the pursestrings. Chakraborty marched into Bhattacharjee’s chamber early this month and obtained his nod.

Another reason for Bhattacharjee’s intervention in the stadium stalemate is President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s visit to the city on February 3 for a function to commemorate the golden jubilee of Mitra Institution. The stadium is to be made available for the school function.

“The stadium has a capacity of 12,000 in the gallery and can seat 2,500 on the floor. But, keeping in mind the safety of the visitors, we have restricted the seating arrangement to 10,000. The organisers, who have already booked the stadium, have been categorically told to abide by the restriction. As it is winter, there will be no problem with the poor air-conditioning,’’ said Swapan Chakraborty, joint secretary in the sports department and in charge of the stadium.

The sports minister said already, 70 organisations have applied for booking the stadium. “I have been able to convince the chief minister that the stadium will miss out on several major functions if we keep it closed. I am glad he has realised the gravity of the situation and permitted us to reopen the stadium for three months,’’ Chakraborty said.

Repairs will start from March, when the stadium will be closed again, the minister said. “No major repair has been conducted during the past 10 years. It is the only stadium in the state with such a massive seating arrangement and other facilities. We had asked the finance department to sanction Rs 5 crore for its upkeep,” he added.