• 70 lakhs per match fee reduced to 10 lakhs, Maharashtra Govt Resolution grants retrospective effect to discount, giving another gift on unpaid dues of 15 crores.

•  RTI activist requests Shinde-Fadnavis Govt to reconsider this bonanza

Mumbai : Maharashtra Government has granted a bumper discount on Police security to IPL matches held in Mumbai & other parts of the state. 70 lakhs per match fee charged for police security has been drastically reduced to 10 lakh. Multi billion cricket enterprise has not been regular in payment for police security with unpaid dues running into 15 crores. Govt resolution has granted this bumper discount with retrospective effect from 2011 onwards, granting another gift of 13 crores to an entity that’s has been in govt arrears for more than a decade. RTI activist Anil Galgali has written to the Chief minister & Deputy CM to cancel this unwanted rebate & at least keep the old rates in place, which should have been hiked since it were fixed in 2011.

According to new rates fixed by govt resolution of 26 June 2023, police security fee of T-20 & IPL matches held in Mumbai  has been slashed from 70 lakhs per match to a mere 10 lakhs. One day ODI matches in Mumbai venue will now have to pay 25 lakhs instead of 75 lakhs per match. The same charge for Test matches will be 25 lakhs replacing 60 lakh per match charged earlier.

In other venues across Maharashtra like Nagpur, Pune & Navi Mumbai IPL & T-20 & test matches were charged 50 lakh per match. Test match security was provided at 40 lakh per match at these venues.

Mumbai police revenues will come down as a result of this magnamity of state govt. IPL has not bothered to pay pending 15 crores, inspite it’s 35 reminders. Now it may receive only about 2 crore of the arrears from IPL for millions of man hour put up by thousands of policemen year after year.

It may be recalled that during the last elections to Mumbai Cricket Association, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had requested Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for rebate in pending dues of IPL & the state govt seems to have obliged him. This ‘match fixing’ by politicians should be annulled & an inquiry be conducted into the officials who have failed to recover dues from IPL till date, Galgali demanded.