Chief minister Shibu Soren takes a look at the model of the international-level cricket stadium at HEC Township in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Oct. 24: Chief minister Shibu Soren today laid the foundation stone for the international-level cricket stadium in the state capital today and announced Rs 1 crore as the state’s contribution to the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) for promoting cricket in the state.

The foundation stone-laying ceremony was preceded by bhoomipuja and Soren set the stadium construction ball rolling in the afternoon in the presence of sports minister Bandhu Tirkey, mayor Rama Khalkho, deputy mayor Ajay Nath Shahdeo, Team India ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s father Paan Singh and other dignitaries.

The stadium under construction would be JSCA’s maiden real estate possession. M/S Kothari of Delhi would carry out the construction work of the stadium.

“It will take roughly 24 months to complete the construction of the stadium, which will have everything that a modern stadium needs to host international cricket matches,” JSCA president Amitabh Choudhary said.

Today’s function marked the end of the series of efforts of the JSCA to get a suitable plot for this stadium. The erstwhile state governments and former chief ministers, including Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda, were approached more than once for allotment of a suitable plot, but to no avail.

Even after clearance from the land and revenue department and Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), the plot in Kanke belonging to BAU could not be allotted for the proposed stadium.

However, Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) readily accepted the JSCA proposal, and in contrast to the functioning of the state, clearance from the board of directors came within months. The high court, too, cleared the decks. The final obstacle was cleared last week, when the state government informed the high court that it had no objection to leasing out of the HEC land to JSCA.