Calcutta: The 33rd Sub-Junior National Basketball Championship which is being held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here was originally scheduled to be held in Siliguri by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) two years back.

Siliguri failed to make the necessary arrangements for the meet and therefore the venue had to be shifted to the city a couple of months back.

“After getting the necessary permission for staging the meet in Siliguri, I personally went there thrice and met the Mayor of Siliguri, but no arrangements were made.

“Then I was forced to change the venue only two months ago as the railway reservations had to be done,” West Bengal Basketball Association (WBBA) secretary K.P. Changoiwala told The Telegraph on Monday afternoon.

According to Changoiwala, despite urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya’s approval, Siliguri failed to arrange the meet. “At the eleventh hour, we sought help from our sports minister (Subhas Chakraborty) and he did whatever he could,” Changoiwala said.

It has been learnt that the sports minister has personally made arrangements of lodging at the Salt Lake Stadium dormitories and at the venue (Netaji Indoor Stadium) of the meet absolutely free of cost.

Meanwhile, Gujarat and Mizoram skipped the national meet.