GHAZIABAD: The UP Cricket Association ( UPCA ) on Thursday agreed to Ghaziabad Development Authority’s (GDA) demand for funds to build India’s largest international cricket stadium in the city.This comes two days after TOI reported that the stadium proposal had stalled due to a funds stalemate between the cricket body and GDA. According to the understanding, the association will mortgage a portion of the stadium’s land, worth Rs 7.5 crore, following which GDA will approve the map. Work on the stadium is expected to start by January 15, officials said.The UPCA has long opposed paying acquisition fee on the ground that it had directly acquired land from farmers for Rs 80 crore. Another bone of contention was floor area ratio (FAR). The association has been demanding enhanced FAR on which the development authority has been dragging its feet. “After CAG raised objection to GDA not charging Rs 7.5 crore acquisition fee from UPCA, we had to keep the stadium’s map approval in abeyance,” said Kanchan Verma, vice-chairperson, GDA. “But in Thursday’s meeting with UPCA officials, it has been agreed the association will mortgage a part of the stadium’s 34 acres of land worth the same amount with GDA. However, the decision to waive off the acquisition fee will have be taken by the state government,” she added.Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced India’s biggest cricket stadium in Ghaziabad last month. The association plans to invest about Rs 500 crore for developing the stadium with a seating capacity of 75,000.Rakesh Mishra, convener of the international stadium committee of the UPCA, told TOI, “On the issue of acquisition fee, we will give an undertaking that whatever the state decides will be agreeable. On enhanced FAR, we have been assured that the government will look into it.”

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