Probe into ticket sale demanded

Cutting across party lines members of the Orissa assembly on Thursday demanded an inquiry into the large scale irregularities in the sale of tickets for the first one-day cricket international between India and Zimbabwe, at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on December 2.

Angry members alleged that thousands of tickets which were to be sold through a nationalised bank were sold out within an hour, even as hundreds of cricket fans queued up for the same outside the stadium.

"These tickets had gone to the black marketeers and the matter should be probed," the government chief whip Pradip Maharathy and opposition Congress member Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mahapatra said, while demanding a ruling from Speaker Sarat Kumar Kar.

The Speaker expressed surprise over the fact that no meeting took place between the Orissa Cricket Association, the police and the district administration to chalk out a method for the sale of tickets.

Sport and Youth Affairs minister Ranendra Pratap Swain responded by saying he had also come across allegations about tickets getting sold out minutes after the counters opened.

Swain said he would take up the issue with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and decide on the course of action.

"We will inquire into it if the need arises."

The members also alleged that the complimentary passes issued to legislators for international cricket matches in Cuttack were not made available this time.

Mail Cricket Editor