Main points:
The Karnataka government gave in-principle approval to play the match at Chinnaswamy Stadium. The condition is that the security arrangements suggested by De Cunha Commission should be fully implemented. The government wants that no accidents should happen in future and IPL matches should not be moved out of Bengaluru.
Delhi: Recently, Karnataka State Cricket Association elections were held in Bengaluru and the biggest issue raised by Venkatesh Prasad’s group in its election agenda was to start playing matches again at Chinnaswamy Stadium. His group won the election and while the news of this election victory was still going on, the Karnataka government gave the green signal to play the match again at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. After winning the elections, Venkatesh Prasad met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar in Belagavi regarding this matter.
Strict conditions imposed after D Cunha Commission report
Although the government has given approval in principle to play matches at Chinnaswamy Stadium, a major hurdle has been removed. The condition has been imposed that the matches will start only when the major security upgrades suggested by the D’Cunha Commission are fully implemented. Now, after the implementation of all the security and infrastructure related requirements mentioned in the report, the responsibility has been given to the Home Ministry of the State Government to scrutinize them and then give the final approval. It is clearly written in this report that the stadium was built in 1974 and as of today, there is a lack of basic modern security arrangements.
So in this way, Chinnaswamy Stadium is ready for a new beginning after months of long controversy and legal investigation. On June 4 this year, 11 people were killed in a stampede during RCB’s IPL victory celebration, and then there was an uproar and a need for investigation. The commission specially formed for this took other aspects into consideration in its investigation. The design and basic infrastructure of the stadium is not suitable for any emergency and traffic control.
Fear of Chinnaswamy walking out of IPL match averted
This government approval comes after the government is confident of stopping the 2026 IPL matches from being shifted out of Bengaluru. For the last few days, there were reports that due to the ban on matches in the stadium, RCB is thinking of shifting its home center from Bengaluru to Pune. When Deputy Chief Minister Shivkumar himself came to cast his vote in the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections, he had said in the stadium itself, ‘I will not allow the IPL matches to be shifted from here. We will try our best to ensure that he is here. He had even called it a matter of ‘pride of Bengaluru and Karnataka’. Thanks to IPL, Bengaluru gets prestige and fame as well as commercial benefits.
Yes, the government also wants that what happened on June 4 should not happen again. All this does not mean that the plan to build a new stadium there has fallen into disrepair. No high-profile match has been held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium since the stampede in June. Women’s World Cup matches were moved from there at the last moment. Chinnaswamy Stadium is also not in the list of host cities for the Men’s T20 World Cup in February-March next year. Now we have reached the point of giving a new beginning to this series.
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