UP: Construction of Varanasi's third international cricket stadium is scheduled to begin in May or June 2023

Varanasi will become Uttar Pradesh's third international cricket stadium after Lucknow and Kanpur, and construction on it is expected to start in May or June of this year. According to authorities, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would get the property by the end of this month. The state government bought a 31-acre plot of land in Varanasi's Rajatalab neighbourhood for the international cricket stadium.

In this respect, Rajeev Shukla, vice president of the BCCI, and Jay Shah, honorary secretary of the BCCI, visited Varanasi earlier this week.

"The international cricket stadium will be built on around 31 acres of land the Uttar Pradesh government has designated in the hamlet of Ganjari in the Varanasi district's Rajatalab tehsil. After Green Park in Kanpur and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, which would host international matches, it will be the third such stadium in the state "Yudhvir Singh, the UPCA director, said to PTI on Sunday.

According to him, the new stadium's construction will start in May or June of this year, and it will probably be finished by the end of 2024.

According to Singh, the planned cricket stadium would cost roughly Rs 300 crore to build. According to Singh, the planned international cricket stadium would be constructed in accordance with international standards and feature seating for 30,000 people.

Jay Shah and Rajeev Shukla had visited Varanasi earlier this week, according to UPCA secretary Arvind Kumar Srivastava.

Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi, Kaushal Raj Sharma stated, "The Rajatalab region of Varanasi's 31 acres of land were acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government from local farmers for around Rs 120 crore. At the end of this month, this site will be leased to the UPCA for a period of 30 years. The UPCA would provide the UP government Rs 10 lakh annually in place of the lease. The UPCA will then build its own stadium (on this property) after that." Sharma said that it's probable that the international cricket stadium's foundation would be laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June of this year.

The divisional commissioner confirmed Shah and Shukla's visit, saying, "BCCI and UPCA officials had several rounds of meetings with the district administration authorities about the development of the cricket stadium. The land will now be given to the UPCA in the last week of this month once a Rs 10 lakh leasing charge has been paid. After that, the BCCI would entrust its construction company with the task of building the cricket stadium." In response to a query about the city's hotel accommodations for the international cricket matches, Sharma said, "The Varanasi neighbourhood of Rajatalab is where the stadium would be built. Wide roadways leading to the (planned) stadium may be found in this location, which is ringed by Ring Road. In Varanasi, there is just one five-star hotel. There will be new hotels opening up soon, and several hotels are expanding." UPCA director Yudhvir Singh stated residents of Kashi would be able to watch the cricket matches in the stadium from 2025.