Siliguri, Jaipaiguri mulls setting up of a new stadium at Kawakhali

Kolkata: The Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) is mulling a project to set up a stadium at Kawakhali in Siliguri. This will come up as the second one after Kanchenjunga Stadium in the busiest city of north Bengal.

The proposal to set up the stadium at Kawakhali has been floated in a board meeting of SJDA attended by Chairman Bijoy Chandra Barman, Vice Chairman Nantu Paul, CEO Priyanka Singla and all other members. The meeting was held on June 18.

Authorities of SJDA have started work to identify the plot where the stadium will come up. "We will take up the matter with the state Youth Services and Sports department for necessary support in this connection. The necessity of setting up another stadium in the city has been felt to reduce pressure on Kanchenjunga Stadium," said SJDA's Vice Chairman Nantu Paul. Mainly football and cricket matches take place at the Kanchenjunga Stadium with a capacity of to hold around 40,000 spectators at a time. The stadium that was set up in the 1980s has received a major overhaul after the change of guard in the state in 2011. It is the only major stadium in the plains in Darjeeling district where matches of major national tournaments are also held.

"The density of population in the city has gone up compared to that of the time when the stadium was constructed. The places in the vicinity has turned congested. All these factors have prompted us to take a move to set up another stadium. It would come up at Kawakhali as there are provisions to get land of required measurement for the project," said Paul.

SJDA has also decided to install statues of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy near the decades old Bidhan Market at Siliguri and a statue of Birsa Munda at Mal Bazar Bus Stand.

Move has also been taken to set up multi-layer parking lots at three different locations in the areas under the jurisdiction of SJDA. Feasibility study and project planning will be undertaken by expert organisations like IIT Kharagpur.

As a part of its beautification project, the SJDA has also decided to set up a clock tower at Jalpaiguri.