CAT appeals to State government to stem the rot in HCA

The Cricket Association of Telangana has appealed to the state government to dissolve the Hyderabad Cricket Association's existing body and appoint an ad hoc panel amid continuing administrative issues and neglect of rural talent

Hyderabad: The crisis in the Hyderabad Cricket Association following the arrest of top brass of the Apex Council has triggered a wave of appeals from the cricketing fraternity for swift, corrective measures.

The Cricket Association of Telangana founder-secretary Sunil Babu Kolanpaka made the first big move towards this objective when it submitted a memorandum to the Telangana IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu seeking a level playing field for the genuinely talented cricketers across the State.

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“Our fight has always been against the institution and not the individuals. Ever since the BCCI started releasing annual grants to the affiliated State Cricket Associations, HCA, which was a major beneficiary, rarely bothered to take the sport out of the twin cities,” Sunil Babu said in the memorandum.

“Most of the time, the HCA affairs are either run by the High Court-appointed panel or the Supreme Court-appointed committee. This is very sad to see even this year’s local leagues, which started two weeks ago, also run by a one-man committee appointed by the Telangana High Court,” Sunil Babu pointed out.

“Given the current state of affairs in the HCA, we request the State Government to initiate measures to stem the rot by making efforts to dissolve the existing body and facilitate appointment of an ad hoc panel to run the administration,” he said.

“I feel that the State Government should write to the BCCI to consider CAT, which has been working in the rural districts of Telangana for the past 15 years, be granted associate membership in the HCA, which has been pending since 2014, and form new district units for all the districts of Telangana to ensure the players’ interests in the districts are taken care of,” Sunil Babu explained.