Kolkata: A packed Netaji Indoor stadium was left dumbstruck at a question raised by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee . Mamata raised a question pointing towards IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly seated on the stage ,why can’t we produce a Messi or a Ronaldo ? Mamata emphasized the need for overall development in the standard of infrastructure of sports in the state . Speaking on the occasion, West Bengal Chief Minister said that sports sector in Bengal was on its path of resurgence. Twenty six new stadiums were being set up across the State, she said.
“We are proud that the U-17 World Cup is being held in Kolkata. We must bring back the glorious days of Bengal’s football,” the CM added.
The chief minister asked Sourav Ganguly , the newly appointed president of Cricket Association of Bengal to erect a new cricket stadium in Rajarhat . She requested Utsav Parekh , one of the principal owners of city based franchise in ISL , Atletico de Kolkata to donate 5 crore towards the development of sports in the districts .
“The world of sports will come to Bengal once all the stadiums and infrastructure is in place .,” she said.
WB CM announced that a new indoor stadium will come up in Rajarhat on 20 acres of land near Eco Park . She sought help from the corporate sector to run the Jalpaiguri Sports Village under PPP mode. She also requested the CAB to build a new cricket stadium in Kolkata.
The West Bengal Chief Minister on Tuesday felicitated exceptionally talented sportsperson of the State who have excelled in various fields of sports. The felicitation ceremony was held at Netaji Indoor Stadium.
The West Bengal Chief Minister conferred lifetime Khel Ratna awards to legendary footballer and former Indian captain PK Banerjee and Tennis ace and former captain of India in Davis Cup, Akhtar Ali.
Thirty one players were felicitated with Khel Samman while 11 coaches were honoured with Krira Guru awards. A total 91 sportspersons in 22 disciplines were felicitated at a ceremony . The list is as follows :
Life Time Achievement ( @Rs.5lakh each ) – PK Banerjee (Football) and Akhtar Ali ( Tennis)
Krira Guru (@Rs 1lakh each ) – Pradip Kumar Banerjee , ShibaPrasad Dhara (Athletics) , Arun Lal ,Ashok Malhotra , Saradindu Mukherjee (Cricket) , Raghu Nandy ,Sisir Ghosh(Football ) , Dilip Das , Shefali Moulik(Gymnastics) ,Jayanta Pushilal(Table Tennis) and Enrico Piperno ( Tennis )
Banglar Gourav (@Rs 50,000 each) – Krishna Das(Archery), Golam Kibria,Kabita Chowdhury ,Srirupa Banerjee ,Subrata Debnath(Athletics) ,Romen Ghosh(Badminton), Atanu Lahiri ,Saheli Dhar Barua (Chess) , Debang Gandhi ,Deep Dasgupta(Cricket) ,Ashok Chatterjee,Atanu Bhattacharjee,Chinmoy Chatterjee,Kalyan Saha,Pradyut Burman,Pranab Ganguly,Satyajit Chatterjee,Shyamal Ghosh ,Sukalyan Ghosh Dastidar(Football)Chanchala Chakraborty ,Dilip Ojha(Gymnastics ),Baljit Singh Saini,Bir Bahadur Chetri(Hockey) ,Insan Ali,Manika Chandrakant Bakre(Kabaddi) , Bina Das,Manju Das, Nitai Kar ,Uma Chanda(Kho Kho)Saikat Chowdhury (Karate) ,Mridula Dhali , Rekha Mal, Sunita Laha(Power Lifting ) , Kuheli Ganguly(Shooting) ,Shyam Jagtiani(Snooker)Abdul Mutlib, Kanai Roy,Rahul Mitra,Ramen Das,Tarun Goswami,Utpal Mitra (Swimming) ,Arup Basak,Nupur Santra(TableTennis)Mahamaya Chowdhury ,Piyali Roy Das(Volleyball )