IPL organisers yet to seek public transport help

Bombay News.Net
Monday 14th April, 2008 (IANS)

There are only three days left for the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches to begin Friday at the sprawling Ferozeshah Kotla ground here, but the city's public transport corporation is yet to get a formal request from the organisers to arrange special transport for the spectators.

Since all matches will start at 8 p.m., a fine-tuned transport facility has to be put in place for the spectators. The stadium can accommodate 50,000 spectators.

'As the IPL matches are likely to draw a huge crowd, a special transport arrangement has to be made as is done for the annual world trade fair held at Pragati Maidan, which is visited by thousands,' a senior official of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), told IANS.

'We have not received any formal or informal request yet. Though it is too late, we will certainly try our best to help out if the IPL organisers approach us,' the official said.

Uncertainty continues over many facets of the IPL matches, the world's most lucrative cricket event, ranging from the security concerns, lack of ticketing information, dispute on entertainment tax on tickets and lack of information on transport arrangements for matches that will end late at night.

It is still not clear how the non-rights holding media, primarily TV channels, will deal with the coverage, since rights holders Sony is said to be demanding huge sums for even small duration of footage, sometimes as little as three to five minutes.

The official said that more buses could be plied on routes connecting the areas from where the organisers expect more viewers.

'We can ply more buses on the key routes connecting Delhi Gate (near the stadium) to Dhaula Kuan. In any case, the night services of Delhi Transport Corporation will continue as usual,' the official said.

Since Metro trains also stop plying after 11 p.m., spectators will have to make their own arrangements to return home after watching matches. Since every match is going to last three hours, spectators will not be able to catch the Metro to return if they sit till the end of the match.

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