CA, BCCI officials in Hyderabad to review security

Hyderabad, Feb 25 (IANS) In the wake of last Thursday’s terror attacks in Hyderabad, Cricket Australia’s (CA) security officer and top officials of the Indian cricket board are here to review security arrangements for the second cricket test starting here March 2.

The security head of Cricket Australia and a team from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are assessing the security arrangements being made at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, said M.V. Sridhar, secretary, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

They met top police officials of Cyberabad police commissionerate and also representatives of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) Monday to evaluate the security measures for the match.

Twin bomb blasts at crowded Dilsukhnagar area in the city Thursday killed 16 people and injured more than 115 others.

The terror attacks had cast a shadow on the match but the BCCI ruled out shifting it to some other venue.

HCA secretary M.V. Sridhar told reporters that they called on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who assured them of full security for the match. “He was very supportive. He said he would not compromise on anything. He assured us full support,” Sridhar said while admitting that smooth conduct of the match in such circumstances is a challenge.

He said the police would have a separate briefing in a couple of days about the specific security measures being taken.

“As an association, we will limit ourselves to conduct of the cricket match. The rest will be taken care of by the experts. I believe they think far and wide,” said Sridhar while adding that they are in touch with the police.

The HCA would take care of gate and crowd management and would be deploying additional personnel for the purpose.

“While security is of paramount importance, we will see to it that public don’t feel deprived of enjoying the game,” Sridhar said appealing to people to follow precautions printed on the back of the tickets.

HCA president G. Vinod said leaflets listing security precautions would be distributed among the spectators.

They don’t fear a low turnout because of Thursday’s incidents. “If we are able to win this (first) test, I see that Saturday and Sunday will definitely be sold out,” added Sridhar.

Out of the stadium’s capacity of 34,133 for this match, the HCA will sell 23,203 tickets to public through 36 e-seva centres in Hyderabad and Secunderabad from Tuesday. The tickets are priced between Rs.100 and Rs.3,000.

The HCA secretary said 1,396 tickets of corporate boxes were pre-sold while there will be 9,534 complimentary tickets.

The stadium’s capacity is limited for this match as some civil work is still going on.

IANS 2013-02-25 16:20:03