Varanasi: BCCI clears site for Rs. 300 crore cricket stadium in Kashi

A Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approved the site for the BCCI-funded project for which land will be provided by the government on lease.

BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla and secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday visited the Ganjari area in Varanasi, the site earmarked for the new Rs. 300 crore state-of-the-art cricket stadium.

Notably, stadium in Varanasi will be the third stadium in Uttar Pradesh after Green Park in Kanpur and Ekana Stadium in Lucknow and first in Purvanchal region.

According to report published in Times of India, the UP government has released fund of Rs. 120 crores for the acquisition of 31 acres of land from farmers. The BCCI will construct the stadium at the cost of Rs. 300 crores.

Meanwhile, divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said that BCCI office-bearers have already inspected the site and 31 acres of land has already been purchased from the farmers with a fund of Rs. 120 crores released by the UP government.

The land in Ganjari area will be given to the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) on 30-year lease by the UP government. The lease period can be extended up to 90 years.

The BCCI will fund this project for the construction of the stadium at the cost of Rs. 300 crores. The stadium is likely to have 30,000 capacity. Notably, the state government paved the way for the construction of an international cricket stadium in Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in May 2022.