BCCI issues ultimatum to state government
Apr 27, 2016 at 11:14 AM
The National Cricket Academy(NCA) will be shifted out of Bangalore if the state government fails to provide land for the Academy’s extension by June 30.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s(BCCI) joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary has confirmed this news. Expressing his frustration he said that BCCI has been compelled to wait for several years despite requests to the government.
“The BCCI has already been etched to the maximum and stretched to the maximum and the NCA members felt they have to look at other options instead of waiting further,” Choudhary told TOI after the NCA board meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
Earlier, in August 2015, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur too had said the board was contemplating shifting the academy due to government’s failure to provide the land.
“I think Karnataka government must look at it (providing land for NCA’s expansion) seriously. If they can’t take a call within the month of September, we have to go out, we have no other option,” Thakur told reporters in 2015 after the felicitation of Karnataka team for winning this year’s Ranji, Irani and Vijay Hazare Trophies.
“We are keen to have a full-fledged centre in Bengaluru. But the problem is, for the last 6 years we have been knocking on the doors of the government, asking them to provide land. We have already paid the money six years ago but we don’t have the land yet. India is a vast country and it shouldn’t be an issue to find suitable land for NCA in other states,” Choudhary said.
Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy stadium has been the home to the academy since its establishment in the city in 2000. Previously in 2010, BCCI purchased 49 acres of land from Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for Rs 50 crore. But the High Court called it illegal after a string of public interest litigations in 2013.
The NCA meeting on Monday, chaired by Niranjan Shah, also discussed other issues such as recruitment of coaches, physios and the revival of the talent resource development wing.
The board is also considering hiring a reputed trainer to conduct Level 1 coaching programme. BCCI selection committee chiefs Sandeep Patil (senior team) and Venkatesh Prasad (juniors) also attended the meeting.