There is a collective vision to promote Vadodara as a “sports city”, he said, adding that the municipal corporation has land designated for sports purposes under its Town Planning (TP) schemes. Days after the Gujarat government proposed to hand over a civic plot to former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, a former Vadodara corporator has sought land for Indian spinner Radha Yadav to set up a cricket academy. A proposal has been submitted to Vadodara Municipal Corporation to allocate Yadav a plot of land under the civic body’s town planning scheme to enable her to set up an academy to promote cricket, former corporator Bandish Shah told reporters on Friday.
Days after the Gujarat government proposed to hand over a civic plot to former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, a former Vadodara corporator has sought land for Indian spinner Radha Yadav to set up a cricket academy
The proposal to gift land to Pathan comes nearly four months after the former cricketer, who was elected from West Bengal’s Baharampur in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, joined a group of 20 TMC MPs who broke away from the Mamata Banerjee-led fold and merged with the NCPI (Nationalist Citizens Party of India). Pathan had been seeking a 978-square-metre residential plot located next to his family home in Vadodara’s Tandalja locality since 2012, but faced years of legal hurdles and encroachment notices from the civic body. In 2012, Pathan had requested to purchase the land adjacent to his home. Though the VMC initially agreed, the Gujarat government rejected the sale in 2014. In 2024, after Pathan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baharampur in West Bengal on a TMC ticket, the civic body issued him a notice asking him to remove the alleged encroachment and vacate the VMC-owned land.
However, proper training requires an outdoor stadium,” he said. The VMC’s stand has been positive, though the administrative process naturally takes some time,” he said. As per the new proposal, 500 square metres of the VMC-owned land will be “gifted” to Pathan, while the remaining 478 square metres will be offered at a 45 per cent concession, valued at 55 per cent of the rate fixed by Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) Valuation Committee. Pathan challenged the order before a division bench, but in August this year, the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn after his lawyer told the court that he was pursuing his claim under the state government’s policy.
“We have submitted a proposal for a plot for Radha Yadav, which will help promote cricket among local athletes and further elevate Vadodara’s reputation. She currently trains at an indoor cricket academy. the plot being sought for Yadav is to develop a ground for cricket practice, which will help children train and bring further glory to Vadodara, Shah added While Pathan’s land is residential. “We intend to develop the facility at our own expense and will also pay rent to the municipal corporation. We are not seeking any handouts. Our goal is to ensure that, through an international cricketer, the children of Vadodara gain access to international-standard facilities. The NCPI then joined the BJP-led NDA ranks in Parliament. The plot has been at the centre of a decade-long dispute between the cricketer-turned-politician and the civic body. Pathan challenged the notice in Gujarat High Court, arguing that the matter was more than a decade old and that the civic body should have issued a show-cause notice before asking him to clear the alleged encroachment. He also contended that the land belonged to the municipal corporation and not the state government. The High Court subsequently upheld the state government’s decision to reject his request for plot allotment. The latest proposal, if approved by the standing committee, would pave the way for the allotment of the disputed plot under the terms outlined by the municipal commissioner. PTI KA PD BNM
