By Ishwar Nath Jha
New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS): Former secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar, Aditya Verma has accused the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah of showing apathy and step-motherly treatment towards Bihar cricket, saying in spite of repeated requests, they have paid no attention.
"My fight was for Bihar cricket, I am still fighting for Bihar cricket. I am glad that my fight has brought a series of changes to the BCCI. A president like Sourav Ganguly has come because of this, but the behaviour of these people towards Bihar has remained step-motherly," Verma told IANS.
"With the partition of Bihar in 2000, the identity of Bihar cricket was snatched away. A state of more than 12 crore population is still fighting for basic cricket infrastructure. This is something I have taken up and I will continue till the end," he added.
Being at the forefront of reforms in cricket administration, Verma when asked about the recent Supreme Court judgment on the BCCI, said, "I will not comment on the Supreme Court order. The Supreme Court has done what it thinks is good. See, the court has said the same thing but it is in a different way. A little has changed from the earlier stand."
The 57-year-old Verma said that he is not interested in the consequences of the Supreme Court order on the BCCI. "My fight started when Jharkhand was given recognition by snatching it from Bihar. Then, the IPL spot-fixing happened. I filed the case in the apex court. The Supreme Court intervened. Many committees were formed. The Court debated the report given by the committee. After that, on August 9, 2018, a criterion scale was made for the office bearers. That order was again modified by the Supreme Court on September 14, 2022," he said.
"As a petitioner, I only have to fight for Bihar cricket. I don't have a personal fight with anyone. The Supreme Court first applied a cooling-off period and then removed it. What should we comment on?"
Verma said that everything kept happening in the name of reforms, but the misfortune that happened with Bihar after the partition of the state, is still going on after 22 years.
"Let's hope something good happens with Bihar cricket. The North-east states got a chance to play Ranji Trophy matches. That is the only good thing that happened during this period," he said.
Verma has urged BCCI president Ganguly and secretary Shah to do something for Bihar cricket.
"I urge Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah again for the betterment of Bihar cricket. I can give an example. In the debut match of the Ranji Trophy, a boy from Bihar made a world-record 341 runs. Despite that, he is not in the Duleep Trophy team. Why, who will answer my question?" he asked.
Verma said those heading Bihar cricket have a track record of engaging in financial irregularities.
"It is the misfortune of Bihar that those who are heading cricket in the state are involved in corruption. Even the sting operation on TV showed them taking money. And the board did nothing. This was least expected from the BCCI," he said.
Despite the apathy towards his state, Verma has lauded the efforts of Ganguly and Shah for helping state associations during the Covid-19 phase.
"Many people lost their jobs due to Covid, but the BCCI kept giving salaries to all the officials and staff in state cricket associations. For this, I will have to thank Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah," he said.