Siliguri waits for Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are expected to be here by the end of December to lay the foundation of a project to install floodlights at Kanchenjungha Stadium.

The batting maestro and the former Team India skipper will also be requested to inaugurate a cricket stadium on the outskirts of the town during their visit, urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya said here today.

“The municipal affairs department has sanctioned Rs 6 crore for the floodlights at Kanchenjungha Stadium, a long-standing demand of the sports-lovers here. I have requested Sourav to lay the foundation of the project along with Sachin. I have got the consent of the former Indian captain. But (on Tendulkar’s availability) he told me that everything depends on Sachin’s prior assignments,” Bhattacharya said.

Tendulkar is currently busy with the ongoing series against New Zealand. After the series, he along with some of the Indian cricketers will go to South Africa for conditioning before the Test and One-Day series against the Proteas, he said.

“We will try to bring him (Tendulkar) here before he leaves for South Africa,” Bhattacharya said.

“Half of the funds sanctioned for the illuminating the stadium will be spent in the first phase.”

The minister said the cricket stadium, for whose inauguration the two batting masters are being invited, has been developed by Bengal Ambuja Group on a 25-acre plot on the outskirts of the town.

The stadium is almost complete.

“We will also try to get the stadium inaugurated by the two cricketers during their visit here,” he said.

According to the minister, Ganguly has agreed to be present at the first Bikash Ghosh memorial lecture on “Sports and India” and deliver the keynote address.

The lecture has been organised in memory of the former Siliguri Mayor.