GUWAHATI, Feb 6 - The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) is facing an acute financial crisis as the BCCI has stopped its grants to the State cricket governing body.
Stating this the ACA president and State Minister, Gautam Roy said that at present the bank balance of the ACA is nil as the BCCI is not providing any financial assistance. He said, the ACA�s audited financial statements for the year 2014-15 was not passed by the annual general meeting (AGM) as the BCCI is not accepting the statement. The Indian cricket board wrote to the ACA to pass the account in the AGM and then only they will release the payment of the invoice.
But as the subject is sub judice, the ACA is not being able to hold the AGM and for that they are in an awkward position for handling the situation.
Congratulating the Assam Ranji team for making history by entering into the semifinals for the first time, Roy said that now it has become even more difficult to send the Assam team to Vadodara from Valsad where they defeated Punjab today.
He said, to run the day to day activities and maintain the Barsapara stadium, it requires a huge amount of money. Roy revealed that from his own source he had so far spent around Rs 2.75 crore for running the activities and managing the expenditures of the Ranji team.
The ACA president said that he is ready to step down if anybody can come forward to take the responsibility. He said, the tainted officials should be punished but before that a through enquiry have to be made. He appealed to the people who are putting hurdles in holding the AGM to clear the path so that the meeting could be held at the earliest and the activities can be run smoothly with the assistance from BCCI.
�At a time when Assam Ranji team is performing superbly, sports lovers should come forward for encouraging the players and officials. If we call back the team then the BCCI will debar ACA from all facilities. So to save the situation now we are planning to withdraw a fixed-deposit,� said Roy.