Min: ‘Biswa Bangla Krirangan’ in North Bengal reduced to grazing ground

Kolkata: State Sports and Youth Affairs minister Aroop Biswas on Wednesday made starling claims in the Assembly that the ‘Biswa Bangla Krirangan’ which was set up by the Mamata Banerjee government in North Bengal and later handed over to Sports Authority of India (SAI) has become a grazing ground for cows.

Training his guns at the Centre, Biswas further alleged that the state government had provided a 15-acre land to the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) at Re 1 in New Town in 2018 with the hope that a centre of excellence would be set up but no steps have been taken yet.

The land was acquired after the under-17 World Cup Football for holistic development of football infrastructure.

The current valuation of the land is Rs 40-50 crore per acre. In reply to a question of BJP MLA from Siliguri Sankar Ghosh in the Assembly, the minister said that the state government had set up a stadium for Rs 110 crore and handed over to the SAI as a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) was signed between the two parties saying that 7 different sports units would be set up.

But in reality, the Centre has completely turned a blind eye to any further development of the infrastructure and cows are now grazing there, alleged the minister on the floor of the House.

“I have written to every successive Union sports minister in this regard but no steps have been taken yet. I would urge the BJP MLAs instead of pointing fingers at the state government, to urge the Central government to carry out the projects to serve the interest of the people in North Bengal,” Biswas told the Assembly.

Biswas also said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, hockey stadiums have been set up in Purulia, North 24-Parganas, while 18 new stadiums have come up and 27 stadiums have been renovated.

An international standard stadium has come up in Barasat in North 24-Parganas.

State government has prepared as many as 424 playgrounds.

The minister also said that students from various sports academies in Bengal are now winning medals in the

international sports arena.