Kolkata: To commemorate the 150th year of inception of the historic Eden Gardens, the Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) will release about 5000 envelopes and stamps with photos of the world famous stadium along with its long-time president Jagmohan Dalmiya.
The stamp will be affixed on a medium-sized envelope and put inside a cover which will carry photos of former Bengal captains on it, a senior official of Philatelic Bureau at Kolkata GPO told PTI.
The stamps' design and the size of the envelope will be finalised soon after a discussion with West Bengal Circle Chief Post Master General (CPMG) Arundhati Ghosh.
“CAB has finalised their choice of size and design of the stamp. Now it is waiting for the CPMG's sanction. Once we get her go ahead, we will prepare them and hand it over to CAB by November 9,” he said.
The idea of putting Eden Gardens' photo on the stamp was suggested by the Philatelic Bureau, he added.
“We had suggested them to use the photo of Eden Gardens stadium or CAB's logo on the stamp. They liked the idea and finalised the stadium's photo along with Jagmohan Dalmiya,” he said.
In fact, CAB had earlier decided to have a sketch by painter Jogen Chowdhury on the stamp. But because Chowdhury's sketches could not be adjusted into the stamp due to size constraints, officials chose the stadium and Dalmiya's photos for it.
“We had to do away with the idea of having a Jogen Chowdhury painting on the stamp because it was too big to get into that small size,” CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey said.
The stamps will be printed as a part of the India Post My Stamp venture, he said.
“There will be 417 sheets of stamps printed. Each sheet will have 12 stamps. Once they are ready they will be fixed on the envelopes and put inside the cover.”
Asked, he said though the price of the envelope along with the stamp is yet to be finalised it may not be more than Rs five, the official said.
CAB is scheduled to unveil both the envelope and the stamp on November 11, two days before India take on Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI of the ongoing series here at Eden Gardens on November 13.
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