Celebrity league puts GCDA in fix
The Celebrity Cricket League authority’s decision to advance its matches to early February has landed the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) in a quandary.
The new CCL schedule clashes with that of Santhosh Trophy, scheduled earlier at the Jawaharlal international stadium.
GCDA chairman N. Venugopal said he was trying to talk to the organizers to make slight changes in the schedule so that the city would not miss any match.
“We will hold talks with the Kerala Foot ball Association and CCL representatives to sort out the row over schedule. We hope to manage both the matches with slight changes in schedule,” said Venugopal.
Earlier, KFA authorities had booked the stadium for the semi-finals and finals of the prestigious Santhosh Trophy from January 16 to February 15, next year.
At the same time, CCL had requested for the stadium after February 15, but advanced their schedule to February 9, said Venugopal.
“The GCDA does not want to create an unnecessary controversy over the conflict of cricket and football match schedules”, he added. GCDA gets Rs 10 lakh per day for providing the stadium in addition to Rs 10 lakh as security.
Meanwhile, CCL coach Pankaj Chandrasenan told Deccan Chronicle that if the stadium was
not available on February 9 for the opening ceremony and the match, the programme would be moved to Sharjah.
“We’ve submitted a letter to the GCDA asking for the stadium on February 9. However, the authority has not taken a final decision. If we move to Sharjah, Kochi will lose its advantage as the home ground of CCL”, he added.
Panel to select exhibition centre design
The Greater Cochin Development Authority has constituted a five-member committee to finalise a panel of architects for the construction of an underground exhibition centre at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.
Authority chairman N. Venugopal said that the committee would select the designs submitted by the architects.
Senior architect Kurian Mathew, town planner Elizabeth, Port Trust former chief engineer J. Karthikeyan, architect Ramanan and media person K.M. Roy are the committee members.
Meanwhile, the GCDA’s executive committee has authorised the chairman to look into the possibilities of installing a statue of late chief minister K. Karunakaran on the stadium premises.
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