Expanding the stadium is a waste of land: State Minister for Local Government

Jessore was the first independent district in the liberation war. But even after so many years of independence, there is only one playground in the district town. The condition of Shams-ul-Huda Stadium built during that Pakistan period is also fragile. The corners of the stadium show signs of age.

Jessore’s first division, second division cricket, tier one, tier two, first division football, first and second division handball and women’s championship tournaments are held at this ground. Apart from this, the district sports organization has to organize all kinds of sports including domestic hockey, athletics in the same field. It becomes difficult to complete all the events within the stipulated time.

Yakub Kabir, general secretary of Jessore District Sports Association, said that if the field was bigger, then we could have played three or four games together. Due to the lack of a field, the game has to be played by rolling around in a field. Due to shortage of ground we organize games in different schools. We have to do this due to field shortage.

The monsoon season makes this challenge even more difficult. The proposal to reform the field did not see the light of day.

With all the games being played at one ground, Jessore is not getting good quality players like before. Still, Swapan Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry, does not see the need for a separate field.

He said that the price of land is increasing, the number of people is increasing. A lot of land is needed to make a field. So if we make good use of what we have, we will not have to build new stadiums.

The General Secretary of the District Sports Association said that it will not be possible for the low-income clubs to bear the additional expenses.