The sleepy village of Mulapadu in Krishna district will transform into a major cricketing hub and ecotourism centre, according to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president and Andhra Cricket Association secretary Gokaraju Gangaraju here on Saturday.
Inaugurating a cricket playing field at Trilochanapuram in Mulapadu village on a 13-acre land, he said the village will have two playfields and a concrete structure with provisions for dressing rooms, dining hall and rooms for players.
“After the completion of the second playfield and the building, tournaments involving four teams can be conducted here. Four dressing rooms, a gymnasium and 22 rooms will come up in the building. The venue will be ready to host a tournament in six months,” he added.
Mr. Raju said the hills surrounding the stadium would be apt for promoting trekking and mountaineering and with the help of the locals the area has the potential to develop into a major tourist spot. “The presence of wildlife such as wild boars, peacocks, sambar (deer), wildcats and others can be a major tourist attraction,” he said.
Mr. Raju said the capital city was just 10 kilometres away across the river Krishna and a bridge in the future will bring prosperity to the area.
He said the aim of the ACA was to spruce up quality playfields in all the 13 districts under its jurisdiction. “The results are trickling in as the ACA has done well in eight age groups out of 10 in the all-India competitions this year.” Krishna District Cricket Association secretary Yella Rao said that a swimming pool with four-centimetre depth was spruced up which will be used to store water to maintain the greenery of the playfields. “Player can also cool their heels after a training session. We have laid seven wickets each on both the playfields and we have eight wickets including two astro turfs at the nets,” he added.
He said the Mulapadu stadium was the property of the KDCA and the major activities of the association will be held here in the future. “Soon we will buy buses to ferry players from Vijayawada. From May 10, we are staging an under-16 inter-district tournament to test the wickets and the playfield.”
