Raipur. Former Indian cricket team captain and former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly arrived today to pay a courtesy call on Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai. Ganguly wished the Chief Minister for the New Year. The Chief Minister also congratulated Ganguly. During this, formal discussions were held on cricket, Chhattisgarh and various other topics. During the discussion, Ganguly asked the Chief Minister about his interest in cricket. The Chief Minister said that there was so much interest in cricket that people used to make their own bats out of wood to play cricket in the village. Describing about Jashpur district, he said that hockey is played here. Here the hill Korwa tribe does archery very skillfully, hence players take great interest in archery also.
Ganguly told that he came to Chhattisgarh for the first time. The stadium of Nava Raipur here is very good. I was told that international matches have taken place here and famous players like Sachin have also played here. He also asked the Chief Minister whether he ever came to Kolkata. The Chief Minister said that as Union Minister of State, he had to visit Kolkata a lot while looking after the Steel Ministry. Mr. Ganguly asked the Chief Minister in detail about Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister said that Chhattisgarh is rich in forest resources. It is quite beautiful naturally. Are also rich in minerals.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister welcomed Ganguly by presenting him a statue of the state animal forest buffalo made of bell metal and a shawl. Ganguly respectfully presented his autographed bat to the Chief Minister. On this occasion, Finance Minister OP Choudhary, MLA Sampat Aggarwal, Secretary to the Chief Minister Dr. P. Dayanand were also present. MLA Aggarwal presented Prasad and photograph of Lord Shri Jagannath brought from Jagannath Puri to the Chief Minister and Ganguly on this occasion.
Had Modi ji taken the photograph of the tiger here? Mr. Ganguly asked whether Kanha is also in Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister said that no, it is in Madhya Pradesh. We have made Junglesafari in Raipur. Prime Minister Modi ji has also come here. Shri Ganguly said that yes, I had seen a photograph of Modi ji taking the photo of a tiger. Was he from here? The Chief Minister said that yes, he is from here only.
The famous fragrant rice here was also sent to Shri Ram Lalla. Chief Minister Sai told Ganguly that 3000 quintals of fragrant rice has been sent from Chhattisgarh for offering in the Shri Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha program in the newly constructed Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya. He said that the Chhattisgarh government has also decided to provide free Ayodhya darshan to the citizens of the state under its Ramlala Darshan Scheme. Finance Minister said, your offside shots used to thrill. On this occasion, during the conversation, Finance Minister OP Choudhary told Shri Ganguly that when you were in the crease, we all used to be very thrilled. Especially your offside shots thrilled us all.
