27 February,2011 07:59 AM IST | | Rinkita Gurav
D Road Marine Drive residents say no window sale of tickets, please; don't want a repeat of Bengaluru incident
Inu00a0the midst of the cricket craze, Marine Drive residents are striking a note of caution. Residents of D Road, the lane that has the entry and the exit gates of the revamped Wankhede stadium, fear that a repeat of the Bengaluru incident of a few days ago is in the offing.
On February 25, more than 15,000 people turned up to buy tickets for the India vs England World Cup match that will take place at the Karnataka State Cricket Association stadium in Bengaluru today. Only 7,000 tickets were available. The frenzied crowd caused a near-riot and the police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the disappointed fans.
Prahlad kakkar
The Mumbai Cricket Association has only 4,000 tickets to sell for the final match scheduled for April 2 at the Wankhede stadium, of which barely 2,000 will be available through window sale (see box).
D Road residents have requested MCA officials to not hold a window sale for the final match fearing the huge crowds that will gather to buy those tickets.
'A' ward Federation coordinator and D Road resident Anil Bhatia, said, "Already the number of tickets allotted for the common public is less and a huge crowd is likely to turn up to buy it. There will be chaos and the police might have to be called in to take action. We do not want the sale of tickets to be held here."
Mahendra Hemde, another resident said, "Many fans will wait to see cricketers emerge from the stadium. Inevitably, there is always a lathi charge to disperse crowds. The trees and potted plants get damaged. We have requested the police to prevent crowds from thronging the place."
Residents also complain that their road is not wide enough to accommodate the crowds and the vehicles that will be parked outside the stadium on the day of the final match. "If the capacity of the stadium is 33,000, there will be more than 50,000 people thronging the place. Even the stadium's compound doesn't have such a large capacity," said Bhatia.
Of the 33,317 seats, 850 seats have to go to the International Cricket Council, 7,000 would go to the 350 cricket clubs affiliated to the MCA,u00a0 5,000 to the five gymkhanas affiliated to MCA, 700 have been reserved for players and umpires, and 1,600 will be given complimentary to the BMC, fire department, police and other government bodies.
"The biggest problem is that the BCCI and ICC are like thugs who have distributed such a huge amount of tickets among themselves. It is very disappointing that the MCA has only 4,000 tickets to offer to the common people," said Ad guru and cricket lover Prahlad Kakkar.
However, 1983 World Cupper Balwinder Singh Sandhu said that while the MCA is justified in giving tickets to various clubs, they should have started the sale of tickets a few months earlier, to prevent chaos.
"The MCA should see to it that one individual buys one ticket, so that no black marketing takes place," he added.
