Sourav Ganguly in key Bengal sports panel

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 6th July, 2011

The West Bengal government Wednesday roped in former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly as vice chairman of the State Sports Council.

Disclosing this, state Sports Minister Madan Mitra said Ganguly and the other players would help the government prepare a roadmap for developing sports in the state.

Former soccer players Gouranga Banerjee and Compton Dutta, table tennis player Poulami Ghatak and chess grandmaster Dibyendu Barua are the other vice chairmen.

'We want specialists to help us improve the sports infrastructure and take the state forward in every discipline,' said Mitra.

Ganguly later said he had accepted the offer.

Considered close to the erstwhile Left Front government, Ganguly had been trying to cosy up to the current dispensation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ever since the Supreme Court set aside the allotment of land given to him in the Salt Lake area by the former regime for setting up a school.

The cricketer had called on the chief minister recently at the state secretariat Writers' Buildings.

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