By IANS,
Kolkata : For the first time, Indian and Sri Lankan players would be driven straight to the Eden Gardens dressing room during practice and Thursday’s One-day International match as part of heightened security following reports of Taliban-trained terrorists sneaking into the city.
A senior city police officer said that in a departure from the past, the players would not alight from the team buses at the main gate and then walk into the dressing room.
“The bus will head straight to the dressing room area. We have asked the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to pull down portions of the outer wall to make space for the two buses to get in,” he said.
Security has been upped at the ground, the team hotel and the route of the players’ convoy during their stay in the city before leaving on Christmas Day, following intimation from the union home ministry of the Fidayeen entering Kolkata to carry out terror attacks.
The authorities are also not taking any chances in view of the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March. Several Lankan players and a match official were among those injured.
The stretch from the NSC Bose International Airport to the team hotel in the southern part of the city has been put under a thick security cover seen only during the visits of the heads of state. A large number of policemen will also be on duty on the roads when the team bus travels to and from the team hotel and the ground.
Commandoes will be posted in the team buses, while the ground will have double-ring security with officers of deputy commissioner rank being the on-field incharge.
The spectators will be subject to security check twice on the match day, while city police’s joint commissioner (headquarters) Javed Shamim will head a makeshift control room at the Eden.
With the CAB having to forego priced tickets as nearly half of the seats are unavailable due to the ongoing renovation and construction work in four galleries ahead of the 2011 World Cup, the police are also keeping a strict watch to ensure the free tickers are not sold off.