By IANS,
Mumbai : Maharashtra’s 367-odd lawmakers are a glum lot – they have been denied tickets to watch the ICC World Cup India-Sri Lanka final in the Wankhede Stadium Saturday.
Officially, for over a week, all 33,000 seats in the stadium have been sold out well in advance.
Barring a few ministers and senior bureaucrats, none of the legislators, cutting across party lines, has managed to secure a ticket for the final.
On record, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has allotted 250 tickets for the biggest cricket spectacle to the government, but a majority of these have been cornered by senior officials and ministers, leaving the legislators fuming.
The Maharashtra legislature has 288 members in the lower house and 78 in the upper house.
Coincidentally, all the legislators are in Mumbai now to attend the ongoing budget session.
And the legislators are not demanding free tickets – they are ready to pay if tickets are made available.
A visibly upset Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse (Bharatiya Janata Party) Thursday highlighted the members’ plight by demanding tickets for the legislators – “We are prepared to pay, give us the tickets,” he urged.
Friday, Sports Minister Padmakar Walvi wrote a letter to the BCCI management, seeking tickets for the legislators.
“Give tickets to the legislators and honour them,” Walvi said, making an emotional appeal to the BCCI.
Well-known human rights and RTI activist Pushkar Damle criticised the BCCI for not giving tickets to the legislators.
“The government has magnanimously granted entertainment tax exemption worth several crores for the mega event, causing loss to the state exchequer. The least the BCCI can do to return the favour is to give legislators tickets, which will be hardly worth a few lakh rupees and not dent the BCCI’s coffers,” Damle said sarcastically.
Among the state dignitaries likely to attend the final will be Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, who will accompany President Pratibha Patil to the venue.
Besides, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Home Minister R.R. Patil and other ministers, Mayor Shraddha Jadhav and top ranking officials will also attend.