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70 lakhs per match fee reduced to 10 lakhs
Maharashtra Govt Resolution grants retrospective effect to discount, giving another gift on unpaid dues of 15 crores.
RTI activist requests Shinde-Fadnavis Govt to reconsider this bonanza
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has announced a substantial discount on police security for IPL matches held in Mumbai and other parts of the state. The fee of 70 lakhs per match charged for police security has now been reduced to just 10 lakhs. The cricket enterprise, which is worth billions of dollars, has been inconsistent in making payments for police security, resulting in unpaid dues amounting to 15 crores. The government resolution has granted this bumper discount, with retrospective effect from 2011 onwards, effectively providing an additional gift of 13 crores to an entity that has been in arrears with the government for over a decade. RTI activist Anil Galgali has written to the Chief Minister and Deputy CM, urging them to cancel this unwanted rebate and maintain the previous rates, which should have been increased since they were fixed in 2011.
According to the new rates set by the government resolution on June 26, 2023, the police security fee for T-20 and IPL matches held in Mumbai has been reduced from 70 lakhs per match to a mere 10 lakhs. One-day ODI matches in Mumbai will now be charged 25 lakhs instead of the previous 75 lakhs per match. Similarly, the fee for Test matches will be 25 lakhs, replacing the earlier charge of 60 lakhs per match.
In other venues across Maharashtra, such as Nagpur, Pune, and Navi Mumbai, IPL, T-20, and test matches were charged 50 lakhs per match. Test match security was provided at 40 lakhs per match at these venues.
As a result of this generosity by the state government, the revenues of the Mumbai police will decline. IPL has failed to pay the pending 15 crores, despite receiving 35 reminders. Now, it may only receive approximately 2 crores of the arrears owed to the thousands of policemen who have put in countless man-hours year after year.
It should be noted that during the last elections for the Mumbai Cricket Association, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had requested Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for a rebate in the pending dues of IPL, and it seems that the state government has granted his request. Annulling this “match fixing” by politicians and conducting an inquiry into the officials who have failed to recover the dues from IPL to date is what Galgali demanded.
