By IANS,
Ranchi : The proposed international cricket stadium here has been caught in a land row between the state government and Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC).
The Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) and HEC signed an agreement for transfer of 37 acres of land on lease to build an international cricket stadium in Ranchi. The agreement was signed after clearance of the Jharkhand High Court.
The JSCA also paid Rs.150 million to HEC for the lease. But now the state government has filed a petition in High Court pointing out that the HEC does not have the right to transfer land to JSCA. The state government said that the revival package mooted for the HEC also includes land. It said that only the state government can transfer the land.
“We transferred the land to JSCA at the directive of the High Court. The 2,400 acres of land which will be transferred to state government in lieu of the revival package has nothing to do with the land given to JSCA,” Abhay Kanth, company secretary of HEC, told IANS.
The BCCI will pay for the construction of the stadium. If the JSCA fails to get land then the fund will be scrapped.
According to sources in the state government the land transfer issue started in 2006. The state government had identified land in Birsa Agriculture University (BAU) for the stadium. The file on the land transfer however went missing.
When JSCA failed to get land from the state goverment, it approached HEC.
“The state government’s indifferent attitude is delaying the stadium work in Ranchi. The state governments of Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other states leased land to their respective cricket associations free of cost. Here we are facing hurdles despite having made the payment,” said an official of JSCA.