Cricket enthusiasts of Siliguri and north Bengal have reason to rejoice — the city will soon get its own cricket stadium named after city girl Richa Ghosh.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is currently in Siliguri, announced on Monday that the stadium would be named after Richa, the wicketkeeper-batter of the Indian women’s cricket team that made history by winning the ICC women’s world cup on
November 2.

Mamata, while speaking at a government function in Uttarkanya, the state’s branch secretariat, said: “We have decided to build a cricket stadium in Siliguri. It will be named after Richa Ghosh. I have asked mayor Gautam Deb to oversee the project that would come up at Chandmoni. Around 27 acres of land have been identified for
the project.”

Chandmoni is an erstwhile tea estate on the city’s outskirts near the Uttarayon township.

Richa Ghosh File picture

“Richa, a member of the Indian women’s cricket team that brought glory to the nation, was felicitated both in her hometown and in Calcutta by the state government and the Cricket Association of Bengal. We want this stadium to be dedicated to her so that people remember her achievements and draw inspiration from her success,” Mamata said.

The announcement fulfills a longstanding demand of Siliguri’s cricket lovers. For years, lack of a proper cricket stadium in the region has deprived promising players of opportunities to train and perform professionally.

Apart from Richa, Siliguri has also produced Wriddhiman Saha, another international cricketer who rose to fame despite the absence of a dedicated cricketing infrastructure in his hometown. The city’s only major sports venue, the Kanchenjunga Stadium, spans seven acres and is primarily used for football.

“This was a long-standing demand of Siliguri residents. It seems the dream of a cricket stadium here is finally going to be fulfilled,” said Kuntal Goswami, general secretary of the Siliguri Mahakuma Krira Parishad, the subdivisional sports body.

Wriddhiman’s former coach Jayanta Bhowmik expressed joy. “This is a proud moment.... I will be happier if the stadium is built soon so that more budding cricketers like Richa and Wriddhi can emerge from Siliguri,” he said.

Gifts for brew belt

Mamata Banerjee also inaugurated 14 health centres and 15 crèches in tea estates of the region and said more such facilities would come up in the future.

“We will shortly introduce 10 buses to reach children from tea estates to their schools. The Centre has time and again said that it will reopen closed tea estates, but it is the state government that has recently opened 24 such estates,” she said.