Bengaluru, 23 May

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday laid the foundation stone for an international-standard cricket stadium at Suryanagar in Anekal taluk on the outskirts.

Siddaramaiah said that an international-standard cricket stadium, which is set to become the second-largest cricket park in India after Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat, was necessary after the stampede near the Chinnaswamy Stadium last year.

At least 11 people were killed, and scores of others were injured during a stampede on 4 June during the RCB victory celebrations last year.

"Until now, Bengaluru City and the State did not have an international-standard cricket stadium. Today, at an estimated cost of around Rs 943 crore, the State government is constructing an international-standard cricket stadium in Suryanagar layout in Anekal taluk," Siddaramaiah said while addressing a gathering at the event.

The stadium project is being undertaken jointly by the Housing Department and the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB), and is expected to have a seating capacity of around 80,000.

With the construction of such an international-standard stadium, tourism in this region will grow and the economy of the surrounding villages will also improve, the CM said.

"People from your village told me that land prices, which were around Rs 1,500 per square foot earlier, have now increased to Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 per square foot because an international stadium is coming up," Siddaramaiah claimed.

He added the project would be built entirely using KHB funds without government financial assistance.

He said the Housing Board expected to generate nearly Rs 20,000 crore through auctioning vacant sites. There is around 4,000 acres of land in Suryanagar, he claimed. Only 75 acres will be used for the cricket stadium, he said.

Notably, there has been major pushback over the stadium, with activists and political leaders flagging environmental concerns as well as reports of a “real estate scam”.

However, Siddaramaiah asserted that the government was committed to providing affordable housing.

"Today, buying sites or constructing houses in Bengaluru and its surrounding areas has become very difficult because land prices have increased enormously. Yet the Housing Board is providing sites and houses at affordable rates for citizens," he claimed.