The construction goof-up that has deprived cricket lovers of day-night matches in Kanpur will be fixed soon after the opening ODI between India and South Africa at the Green park stadium on Sunday, assured UPCA secretary and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.
Green Park has been unable to host day-nighters despite having a floodlight facility since 2006. Of late, the biggest hurdle for the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) has been the new VVIP box as its faulty construction ended up blocking one of the floodlight towers.
Shukla said the glitch will be fixed soon after the opening ODI, which happens to be the only day game in the five-match series.
“The issue is the way the VVIP pavilion is constructed. It cuts the lights from the playing arena. We will sort out that issue after the match (opening ODI) is held. The position of the lights will be shifted and the future games will be day-night affairs”
The Regional sports officer Usha Lal, in this regard, shot off a letter to the UPCA asking it to complete the formalities that involve depositing the booking fee of Rs. 15 lakh before the match. A mandatory pre- requisite mentioned in the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) that the UPCA had signed with the state government before it was given the lease of the stadium.
The UPCA have not even submitted a written application to them for booking the ground. They have requested them to complete all the formalities.
According to the MoU, UPCA is supposed to deposit Rs 1 crore annually against the lease and the booking fee at the time of the match. But UPCA, according to officials, has neither deposited the money against the lease nor the booking fee.
The Officials alleged that UPCA has been avoiding fee payment ever since the MoU was signed. It had, they said, even written a letter to the state government in September asking that in which account the money had to be transferred while it was clearly mentioned that the money had to be submitted into the state’s revenue department account. Besides, as per the agreement, 2800 out of 5000 seats in the stadium had to be kept reserved for the sports department of the state and passes issued accordingly.
The officials of MoU said “We have not even received the passes for the 2800 seats,”
On the other hand, Shukla said now that they have got the ground on lease from the state government for 30 years, the facilities will be upgraded gradually. Interestingly, the UPCA is the only state association that doesn’t have its own stadium.
“Earlier there was no MoU with the state government. Now that it is done, we will put everything in place. They are supposed to take care of the construction, our responsibility is maintenance. Dealing with the government has been smooth so far,” said Shukla, who has earlier spoken about UPCA coming up with its own stadium in Ghaziabad.
Talking about Sunday’s game, he said: “We are ready for the match. This time, we have a new dressing room which is bigger and of international standard. We have also introduced online ticket sales. We all hope it is a good match and players of both teams enjoy their stay here”
But, The officials said under these circumstances, the state Government can anytime lock the stadium if UPCA does not deposit the fee and considering flouting of MoU terms and conditions by the UPCA.
Both the teams – arriving in Kanpur on Friday evening – are scheduled to meet in the first ODI at the renovated Green Park stadium which is holding an international match after a gap of two years. As per the program, the match would be inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik while Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav would distribute awards at the post-match presentation ceremony.