New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 2 is beginning on schedule from April 10 with a grand opening ceremony in Mumbai.
IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi on Tuesday announced that the Twenty20 championship will go ahead with just a slight change in schedule keeping in mind Lok Sabha elections.
Modi claimed that the final schedule is still being fine tuned but it is almost 90 per cent complete. He also said Rajasthan and Maharashtra have cleared the dates but five other states where the matches are to be played have not yet given a written confirmation clearing the schedule.
Modi also announced that two new venues - Ahmedabad and Vishakhapatnam - will also host IPL matches
He, however, said he wasn't aware of any intelligence warning of a terror threat to the IPL and stated that security would not be left to the franchisees and that the IPL would ensure adequate security.
"I think the controversy was created by the media. There was no controversy. I think someone put words into people's mouth and things got to where they are. We never had any issues in the past in domestic tournaments. We never needed any approval but nevertheless we are very, very happy that the honourable minister has been supporting us," said Modi.
"State governments are supporting us and we are going to have the IPL as scheduled. We are changing some of the dates. We have always said that we would do that. We have no issues on working with various state governments on security issues. I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to do it across the country," he added.
Modi also said that security will be of "paramount" importance during the second season of the IPL, with a centralised security force monitoring teams, official, venues and grounds.
The IPL governing council has already decided to have a central security force which would enable smooth movement of the teams, officials and the television crew across various venues.
Chennai Security Template (used during the India-England Test match in December in Chennai following the Mumbai terror attacks) will be used for IPL Season 2.
It would mean deployment of nearly 1,500-2,000 state police personnel and also additional companies of CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB.
Nicholls Steyn, a reputed private security agency from South Africa, will help out in the entire security arrangement process.
But on the other hand, Union Home Ministry sources have said that the IPL has not consulted them before making the announcement about the schedule.
The Home Ministry will be sending revised schedule to the state governments for a clearance.
So the IPL fate hinges on the go ahead from the state Director Generals of Police and a further discussion between Centre and state governments.
Comments
0 comment