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What's the story?
The Barasat Stadium which has regularly hosted I-League matches in the past and also a few this seasons will be upgraded to a sports complex-cum-stadium in the future as directed to the Sports Department by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In case you didn't know...
The Barasat Stadium was the replacement for the Salt Lake Stadium during the time the latter was under renovation ahead of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Till the last season, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan played their I-League matches at the venue. Even this season, a few matches were hosted there, which included a mouth-watering clash between East Bengal and Minerva Punjab FC that ended 2-2.
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The heart of the matter
The Vidyasagar Krirangan has a capacity of 22,000 and Mamata Banerjee feels that the development of the stadium is necessary as it is very close to the city.
"The Barasat Stadium must be developed. It must be done in a great way, as it is close to Kolkata also. It should be developed into a sports complex-cum-stadium," said Mamata at a press meet on Tuesday.
On hearing this, I-League CEO Sunando Dhar was very pleased, lauding the efforts of the Sports Department and felt it will boost football in and around West Bengal and in India as a whole.
What's next?
The Barasat Stadium has hosted top-flight football and a facelift will definitely go a long way in helping it. It will be interesting to see how the development process takes place, considering that the stadium has much less space compared to the Salt Lake Stadium.
Author's take
Although the Barasat Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for the home teams, it has proven very difficult to maintain. The artificial turf has been the cause of many problems and the introduction of natural grass would be a welcome change.
