
Kotla to house cricket museum
DELHI IS set to have its first comprehensive cricket museum when the third phase of the revamp of the Ferozeshah Kotla begins this summer.
The museum is being visualised as a place that will showcase Delhi and northern India's cricketing heritage and house a series of cricketing treasures, some of which, DDCA officials hope, will be donated by its players.
Talking about the museum, DDCA president Arun Jaitley said: "We want a museum in the Kotla, a place which houses cricketing memorabilia from all over the world."
With the new wing housing the dressing rooms already in use, and floodlights scheduled to be up before the IPL blitz, the DDCA has decided to move onto 'Phase III'. "We had chalked out a three-phased revamp plan for the Kotla a long while ago. With the first two phases almost done, we have decided to start with the final stage," said Jaitley.
"There are many changes in the offing for the Kotla, we want to provide better facilities to members and visitors alike," Jaitley added. "For starters, we will set up a cricket academy at the complex, one that is equipped with practice wickets - both outdoor and indoor," he added.
There are also plans of setting up a residential complex within the academy for the players. The DDCA's plans also include a state-of the-art gymnasium and a swimming pool. "Presently, we are looking to utilise the area behind the scoreboard to construct the gymnasium and pool," Jaitley said.
Jaitley also said the DDCA has plans of redoing the interiors of the present Willingdon Pavilion and setting up a cricket museum there.
"We don't want to touch the Pavilion building, since it is so close to the heritage site," Jaitley said.
"Therefore, we have decided to redo the interiors of the building, move out the offices and set up a lounge, a restaurant and a cricket museum," he added.
The president also said that though there were plans of laying tennis courts in the area, the Association was yet to zero in on the exact area. "We want to provide facilities for other sport, apart from cricket. Maybe TT tables, tennis courts and more," DDCA general secretary SP Bansal said.
Asked about how long he reckoned the project would take to get completed, Bansal said: "We will get to work as soon as our AGM gets over in March, let's see how much time it takes, somewhere between 12 and 24 months."
Very soon, a visit to the Kotla will be one to remember, or at least that's how one hopes it turns out to be.

Toolkit case: Shantanu Muluk’s bail plea hearing today

CBI names TMC youth leader in charge-sheet of cattle smuggling case
- Earlier this month, CBI in the first charge-sheet in the case had named BSF Commandant Satish Kumar and Murshidabad-based businessman Enamul Haque along with five others for their alleged involvement in cattle smuggling across the India-Bangladesh border.

Top court proposes cadre of magistrates to fill gaps in police investigation
- The bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat apart from Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde were of the view that magistrates should play a more “intrusive” role in investigation.

College student in Andhra Pradesh killed for rejecting marriage proposal
- Police said the accused and the victim were in a relationship for a year, but of late she had been avoiding him.

Higher fares for short distance trains to discourage needless travel: Railways
- The national carrier at present is operating only special passenger trains since the curbs on lockdown were eased. Regular passenger trains have been suspended since March 25, 2020.

New strains not more infectious, need to aggressively monitor situation: Guleria

2 security personnel killed in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur in Maoist attacks
- Both the casualties took place due to IED blasts.

Govt clarifies on controversy over Motera stadium being named after PM

India plans new social media controls after Twitter face-off

Differences in Meghalaya BJP intensifies, coalition govt comes under strain
- The BJP unit has also been at loggerheads with the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) dispensation with its chief Earnest Mawrie accusing it of anomalies in governance.

UP cops hunt for clues into case of college girl found with burn injuries
- Shahjahanpur’s superintendent of police S Anand, SP, denied reports that the girl was burnt after a failed rape attempt

Expert team widens mouth of lake formed upstream Rishiganga for faster drainage
- An expert team is trying to drain out the lake to prevent another tragedy like the Chamoli flash flood.

Amid Covid-19 fears, thousands throng Telangana’s Sammakka-Saralamma festival
- The tribal fair draws devotees not only from Telangana, but also from other states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

West Bengal makes RT-PCR tests mandatory for arrivals from Maha, 3 other states
- The notice released by the state government stated “All passengers coming to West Bengal from the aforementioned 4 states shall mandatorily carry a covid negative RT-PCR report for such test conducted within 72 hours of flight departure.”

2 terrorists killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’ Anantnag
- The police said they were ascertaining the identities and affiliation of the two terrorists.