Centre tells IPL to consult states; new schedule Tuesday

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) Racing against time, the Indian
Premier League is likely to submit a revised schedule Tuesday
after the Indian Home Ministry Monday told the organisers that
cosmetic changes in the fixture was not acceptable.

With less than a month to go for the cash-rich Twenty20
event to get underway, the Home Ministry's rejection of the
second proposed schedule submitted by the IPL organisers has
put a question mark on the fate of the tournament beginning
April 10.

The IPL's attempts to break the deadlock over its
schedule suffered a blow after the Ministry rejected the
cosmetic changes in the fixture and bluntly told the
organisers to consult the state governments while finalising
the dates.

The IPL may come up with its revised schedule Tuesday
after which the Home Ministry would begin its exercise of
consulting the states, official sources said.

Earlier, a meeting between top Home Ministry and Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials to resolve the
imbroglio related to the dates ended without resolution with
the Centre making it clear that it was not in a position to
spare para-military forces because of the Lok Sabha elections.

A three-member BCCI team, led by Secretary N Srinivasan,
met Special Secretary (Internal Security) Raman Srivastava in
the Home Ministry where they were told not to indulge in
cosmetic changes and rather hold consultations with state
governments where they would like to hold the Twenty20
matches.

"The Home Ministry have expressed their concerns, they
have explained it to us in details. We've also explained our
difficulties and concerns and the importance of all the
stakeholders," Srinivasan told reporters.

The IPL organisers had suggested changing the venue at
Visakhapatnam to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh as Andhra
Pradesh Government had categorically refused to provide
security there for four matches between April 19 to 29, the
sources said. PTI Team
DEP

The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain
proprietary, confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify
the sender immediately and destroy all copies of this message and any attachments
contained in it.