Initiatives taken to reclaim Ctg Outer Stadium that nurtured Tamim, Aftab

The Chattogram district administration has taken an initiative to bring back games to the Chattogram Outer Stadium where cricketers like Tamim Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury grew up playing, but was later become mainly a venue for fairs.

The district administration stopped the activities of a fair at the Chattogram Outer Stadium, adjacent to MA Aziz Stadium, on Thursday. The two-day fair organised by online group Leading E-Commerce Society was supposed to start from Friday (10 March).

Chattogram Nejarat Deputy Collector Md Towhidul Islam told TBS that the fair has been halted because the district administration and Chattogram Jela Krira Sangstha (CJKS) have decided not to allow fairs at the outer stadium anymore. If there are any other applications for holding fairs in the ground, those will also be cancelled.

Soon after the announcement by the district administration, the outer stadium was demarcated with red signs. The Chattogram deputy commissioner said the illegal structures inside the boundaries will be vacated soon.

People of Chattogram have welcomed the initiative to stop the activities of the fair at the Outer Stadium ground.

How the ground was occupied illegally

The Chattogram MA Aziz Outer Stadium is famous for creating players. Former national team cricketers Akram Khan, Minhajul Abedin Nannu, and Nurul Abedin Noble practiced in this field. Popular tournaments like Star Juba and Nirman School Cricket Championship were once held in this ground. Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury and Tamim Iqbal were among the last generation of players who grew up playing in this field before joining the national squad.

Apart from sports, many fairs were organised in this ground every year. Among them, Bijoy Mela, Car Fair, Handloom Fair, Tree Fair were notable.

In 2017, ignoring strong public objections, a 70,380 sq ft swimming complex was built inside the field. On the other side of the ground, a "Mukta Mancha (open stage)" was built. Besides, a number of shops were also built inside the ground.

After constructing these instalments, waterlogging became a problem for the ground during the rainy season. And throughout the dry season, the field was rented to various organisations. Gradually all the field became unusable for games.

Currently, budding cricketers practise in a limited way in one corner of the ground, but that too often becomes impossible as construction materials used in different fairs are kept haphazardly there.

Mohammad Saiful, a young cricketer, told TBS, "Earlier, games were organised here, but now we cannot even practise properly. When water accumulates in the ground due to monsoon rains, we can practise batting and bowling inside the net set up in one corner, but there is no scope of practising fielding."

The Polo Ground and Parade Ground in the port city are also in miserable condition due to waterlogging in the rainy season and fairs in the dry season.

CJKS is in charge of the maintenance of the outer stadium, whose general secretary is AJM Nasir Uddin, former mayor of Chattogram City Corporation and general secretary Awami League Chattogram city unit.

After being elected general secretary of CJKS in 2011, Nasir promised to renovate the outer stadium. But the construction of the swimming pool started in the outer stadium during his third term.

Mohiuddin Chowdhury, the former president of Chattogram city unit Awami League, opposed the construction of the swimming pool in the outer stadium from the beginning. At that time there was a massive clash with the police over Chhatra League's programme to stop the construction of the swimming pool in the field.

Six years after that incident, on 2 March, Chattogram Deputy Commissioner and CJKS President Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman announced there will be no more fairs at the outer stadium. CJKS General Secretary Nasir was also present when he made the announcement.

The Chattogram deputy commissioner told TBS, "The assistant commissioner (land) and the surveyors have measured the area of the outer stadium and marked it with red signs. All the structures inside the field will be vacated.

"Owners of the instalments will be given a reasonable time to evacuate the area. The installations must be removed by then. Otherwise we will take actions against them."

Regarding the construction of new playgrounds, he said, "We have decided to construct 191 playgrounds in 191 unions in 15 upazilas in Chattogram within one year. Instructions have already been given to the upazila executive officers in this regard."

Saifullah Chowdhury, a cricket coach in Chattogram, said, "If this initiative of the district administration is implemented, the youths and students of the city will benefit immensely. A large part of the young generation is going through a moral degradation and getting involved in different crimes. At least some of them can be saved from this crisis if the playgrounds are saved."