Bangalore:
The Indian Premier League has always had its share of controversies that sometimes overshadow the action of the field. And now out of Bangalore is a moment that is pure "It happens only in India".
It's turning out to be one of the bitterest contests of this IPL season - and it is not being played on the cricket field itself. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagare Palike (BBMP), the city municipal corporation, is acting tough with cricket officials - miffed by not getting as many free passes as they would have wanted to Bangalore matches. They wanted 450, the Karnataka State Cricket Association was ready to part with only 250.
The angry corporators returned all the passes with the deputy mayor S Harish saying they did not want the IPL's charity, they did not want the tickets. Perhaps a little late for all this dignity considering the less than dignified demand for passes in a cricket crazy nation.
The Palike also began muttering about imposing advertisement taxes for the stadium, which rakes in revenue thanks to in stadium hoardings.
But the latest bouncer is based on what the Corporation is meant to do as its duty - clear garbage. They now seem reluctant to help the cricket stadium out. They claim that they have not been approached to clear the mountains of garbage generated on an IPL match day. So why should they lift a finger?
And so, bags of garbage in the stadium on the day of a high-profile IPL encounter.
The stadium can hire private collectors to take the garbage away - but where can they dump it? It has to be in a place approved by - you guessed it - the city corporation.
Stadium officials were not ready to comment but cricket fans were more outspoken. One fan said, "BBMP officials are demanding free tickets for IPL. So these officials are playing tit-for-tat game with the officials of this IPL organisers. So they are not taking up the wastage from the stadium. I think there are some politics going on, dirty politics going on inside the BBMP officials and the organisers of this IPL."
Just maybe, Chris Gayle's big sixes will land in a place where no cricket ball has gone before.
It's turning out to be one of the bitterest contests of this IPL season - and it is not being played on the cricket field itself. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagare Palike (BBMP), the city municipal corporation, is acting tough with cricket officials - miffed by not getting as many free passes as they would have wanted to Bangalore matches. They wanted 450, the Karnataka State Cricket Association was ready to part with only 250.
The angry corporators returned all the passes with the deputy mayor S Harish saying they did not want the IPL's charity, they did not want the tickets. Perhaps a little late for all this dignity considering the less than dignified demand for passes in a cricket crazy nation.
The Palike also began muttering about imposing advertisement taxes for the stadium, which rakes in revenue thanks to in stadium hoardings.
But the latest bouncer is based on what the Corporation is meant to do as its duty - clear garbage. They now seem reluctant to help the cricket stadium out. They claim that they have not been approached to clear the mountains of garbage generated on an IPL match day. So why should they lift a finger?
And so, bags of garbage in the stadium on the day of a high-profile IPL encounter.
The stadium can hire private collectors to take the garbage away - but where can they dump it? It has to be in a place approved by - you guessed it - the city corporation.
Stadium officials were not ready to comment but cricket fans were more outspoken. One fan said, "BBMP officials are demanding free tickets for IPL. So these officials are playing tit-for-tat game with the officials of this IPL organisers. So they are not taking up the wastage from the stadium. I think there are some politics going on, dirty politics going on inside the BBMP officials and the organisers of this IPL."
Just maybe, Chris Gayle's big sixes will land in a place where no cricket ball has gone before.
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