SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, July 31: The Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) would build a new cricket stadium in Katras of Dhanbad district.
Dhanbad Cricket Association (DCA) President Manoj Kumar, giving this information to media persons, said that the JSCA executive committee has given its nod to this ambitious project at its recently held meeting.
“ In this regard, the JSCA and the Kanko Public School management (which owns the land) would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) soon. If all goes as per plan, work of ground levelling and grass planting would be completed by September,” said DCA president and former vice-president of JSCA Manoj Kumar.
On the occasion, JSCA executive member Vinay Kumar Singh, DCA general secretary Uttam Biswas and treasurer Lalit Jagjani were also present.
JSCA executive member Vinay Kumar Singh said that the JCSA has also selected land in Bokaro for making its own stadium. “But if this project goes as per plan, the Dhanbad stadium would be the first of JSCA in the state after Ranchi,” he added.
The DCA president said that two months ago JSCA secretary Devashish Chakraborty and BCCL Pitch and Grounds Committee (PGC) member SB Singh had inspected Katras Kanko ground and found it an ideal place for an international cricket stadium. The selected ground has reportedly a 70-yard playing area.
Manoj Kumar said that after 10 years Dhanbad would again host Ranji Trophy matches this season. Railway stadium is being prepared for the match. Last time, Dhanbad had hosted Ranji Trophy match between Jharkhand and Punjab in 2013. “The Dhanbad District Association has also got matches of Syed Mushtaq Ali Cricket Trophy and Women’s Challengers Trophy to host,” he said.
The DCA president said that the association is also in negotiation with the management of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and Tata Collieries Jharia Division for preparing Prabhat Stadium, Jealgora Stadium and Digwadih Stadium for preparing a pitch.
Ravijit Singh Dang, Sanjiv Jha, Balshankar Jha, BH Khan, Dharmendra Kumar, Ratnesh Singh, Manish Bardhan, SA Rahman, Sunil Kumar, D Tiwary, Sanjiv Rana, Dr Rajshekhar, Sudhir Pandey, Javed Iqbal khan, Manish Kumar and Mahesh Gorai ( all office bearers of DCA) were also present at the meeting.
