How complimentary tickets for IPL matches at Uppal Stadium have snowballed into major controversy
This was one among many allegations that surfaced
By Coreena Suares
Representational Image.
Hyderabad: Telangana Vigilance and Enforcement Department (TVED) on Wednesday recorded the statements of office bearers of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) following allegations that IPL complimentary tickets were being misused and sold at a higher price.
This was one among many allegations that surfaced during the probe into alleged corruption in the Hyderabad Cricket Association.
Amid IPL matches, TVED visited the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal on April 2 and recorded the statements of HCA and SunRisers Hyderabad officials.
This comes after Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy ordered a vigilance investigation into the alleged corruption of HCA.
Uppal stadium can house 39,000 spectators. Besides, it has 59 corporate boxes. According to the agreement between HCA and SRH, out of 39000 match tickets, 10 percent (3900) has to be given to HCA as complimentary.
Complaints, however, surfaced that these complimentary tickets are either being held back by HCA or put to retail. Speaking to NewsMeter, office of the HCA president Jagan Mohan Rao refuted these allegations. The office said that every ticket distribution is recorded. They said over the years, the number of complimentary tickets has reduced.
What created stir was allegations that cricket fans are unable to book tickets online as the website shows "sold out". All the 35000 tickets come under the preview of SRH and not HCA, officials said.
The moot question remains to whom were complimentary tickets given. Speaking to NewsMeter, a member of the HCA, who prefered anonymity, said: "No passes are given to state players. This will encourage them to have a hands-on experience of the match. Only club members are given 12 passes per club.ā
What are the allegations?
All clubs in HCA are allotted 12 tickets, including the office bearers. However, tickets cornering Corporate Boxes from F7 to F16 are considered private and distributed among themselves. The beneficiaries include families, friends and relatives. In some cases, they are being marketed at exorbitant rates.
These tickets have to be distributed among the stakeholders of the association.
President's box has been created to accommodate the officials, VIPS with whom the association interacts throughout the year.
The practice of preparing affiliation cards is basically to facilitate those who provide services. As a gesture of goodwill, during some matches, the services of club secretaries were utilized free of cost. However, this has been misused to facilitate entry of their kith and kin. In some cases, these affiliation cards facilitate the movement of the members with all access to all areas of the stadium premises, which is not a good practice.
Food has been served to selected persons who have vested interests with office bearers of the association. Corporate boxes on the first floor are in control of office bearers, and they are ordering ITC food. These boxes are generally reserved for the CM and the President only.
The first-class cricketers, former office bearers, and international players are eligible for a minimum of two tickets for their families. They have completely ignored these tickets and have been cornered by office bearers. The President, Secretary, and Treasurer alone are cornering 400 to 500 tickets apart from their club tickets. It is a very unhealthy practice, and has to come to an end.
How was the lid blown off?
On March 30, two leading newspapers in Telangana carried a report that SRH is reconsidering hosting IPL matches in Hyderabad after being blackmailed for extra free tickets by HCA. An email sent by SRH to HCA, which was leaked to the media, stated that the SRH management alleged that HCA, led by President Jagan Mohan Rao, is asking for extra complimentary passes in addition to the existing 10 percent.
For several years, HCA has been given 50 complimentary tickets (F12A box) as part of the 3,900 free tickets. However, this year, they claim that the box has a capacity of only 30 and request an additional 20 complimentary tickets for another box. In this regard, the F-3 box was locked during the last match on March 27.
On the same day, HCA clarified that its president A Jagan Mohan Rao, did not make any personal request to block 3,900 tickets for Sunrisers Hyderabadās matches during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal.
Taking a serious note of the allegations levelled against the (HCA), CM Revanth Reddy reportedly ordered a vigilance probe and directed Vigilance DG Kothakota Srinivas Reddy to investigate the issue thoroughly. He also made it clear that stern action should be taken if any HCA personnel were found to have pressured the SRH administration over complimentary passes.
On April 2, the Vigilance team visited the stadium and recorded the statements of the office bearers.
