A budget has been allocated every year for the construction of the physical infrastructure of the cricket ground in Kohalpur Municipality. It is mentioned in the public budget that a cricket ground will be constructed this year. Stakeholders have again expressed concern as construction has not started yet. Earlier, the budget allocated every year has been frozen.
The budget allocated by the government is being returned due to a land dispute over the cricket ground. At the same time, there are about 700 households living in the area of ​​the ground but the municipality has not been able to vacate the land. Chief Administrative Officer of Kohalpur Municipality Tikaram Dhakal said that physical construction work could not be carried out due to a land ownership dispute. “The construction work has been halted due to a dispute over when the sports ground will be owned by the district sports committee or the municipality or the national sports council,” he said.
Kohalpur Municipality has allotted 4 bighas and 19 katthas of land for the cricket ground. Chief Administrative Officer Dhakal said that 700 houses have been built on the land illegally. ‘If you look at the previous records, it seems that 700 houses were built inside the cricket ground. It is learned that more houses have been built recently, ‘he said.’ Another reason why the cricket ground could not be built is the encroachment of land. ‘
As Kohalpur is the home municipality of Youth and Sports Minister Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj, it is believed that this year’s budget will be implemented. However, construction of the cricket ground is unlikely to begin until the encroachment problem is resolved. Former chairman of the Midwest Sports Development Committee Bhim Oli says that it is a matter of shame that there is no playing field in Banke even though there are international-level cricket players. He said that during his tenure, he also tried to start the construction of infrastructure for cricket in Kohalpur. Banke, which has already produced international-level cricketers, has been facing problems in organizing the tournament due to a lack of ground. The lack of ground has reduced cricket activities. There is not enough area for a cricket tournament in Nepalgunj Stadium. The competition was held on the grounds of Mangal Prasad Mavic here. However, the problem arose after the school administration stopped the competition saying that the study was affected due to the competition.
Women’s cricket was started in Nepalgunj. The women cricketers here have won titles by playing at the international level. They had taken training at Mangal Prasad Mavikai Chaur. There have been repeated calls for a cricket ground in the district. Even though the voice was raised during the competition, it slowed down later.
