In this day and age, money and Cricket go hand-in-glove. While the Cricket Boards, associations and franchise’s across the country are known to make millions, there have been stray instances where payment disputes get ugly and reputations are scarred. The latest such episode is one involving the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
As per reports of The Times of India, it has now emerged, via an RTI, that the MCA still hasn’t cleared dues payable to the Mumbai police to the tune of Rs.3.6 crore for security sevices availed during the ICC World Twenty20 event earlier this year. The Mumbai police had offered round-the-clock security during the marquee tournament and RTI activist Anil Galgali has now revealed that this non-payment has caused losses to the state government.
A report compiled by the Bandobast Division stated that Rs.60 lakh was charged to the MCA for every match played at Mumbai between March 10 and March 31. The Mumbai police had deployed 3,756 police personnel for these matches.
Mr. Galgali said, "I have now written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai police commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar urging them to formulate a policy to take advance payments from such institutions so that the authorities don't have to keep reminding them of the dues. Secondly, unless you charge them interest on late payments, how will they make payment promptly?".
He added that the authorities were unaware of this lapse from MCA. “They had to look into the accounts to respond to my query. While no security deposit is taken before keeping such large bills pending, the Mumbai police did not even charge interest even after six months. The delay has resulted in loss to the state government, which is unacceptable”.
Apparently, it was only after having received the RFI on June 24 that DCP Ashok Dudhe reached out to DCP (Local Arms) and subsequently thereafter, the MCA was contacted. Post this glaring revelation, the Mumbai police have issued requisite communications to the MCA authorities and are currently awaiting a response.
Although the situation has caught the MCA on the backfoot, the association hasn’t always defaulted in the past.
In 2011, the police department was paid around Rs 2.65 crore (2,65,49,888) for providing bandobast for four matches. That said, this news comes close on the heels of the recently concluded IPL where matches were moved away from Mumbai causing the association significant heartache.
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