PCA yet to pay Rs 20 crore to state police for match security since 1995

Since matches are a commercial activity,the PCA is liable to pay for the security. But even when it defaults,the police is duty-bound to provide security,said a source. For Saturday’s match,nearly 1,200 police personnel from Mohali and neighbouring districts will be deployed. The charges for the security are basically a day’s pay of the personnel deployed. Sources said,police or the government is supposed to get the payment in advance when it deploys forces for commercial activity.

Rs 84.21 lakh is the highest amount charged for a single match in October 2010 when India played a Test match against Australia. This year alone,security worth nearly Rs 5 crore was provided for all the matches,including the IPL and the champions league T20. Last month’s champions league matches cost PCA Rs 1.45 crore while the earliest pending dues of Rs 4.89 lakh are from a Ranji Trophy match in 1995.

“This has been going on forever. We never fail to provide security or send a reminder after each match,” said SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar. A close aide of the PCA president IS Bindra said that the bills sent by the police were inflated and in any case the PCA had never demanded any security from the Punjab police. “We can easily handle every match with our private security. Punjab police provides security for the state’s VIPs who visit the stadium,” he said.

Refuting the claims,a police source said,“PCA officials always claim that they do no ask for security. But they never fail to send an application for security each time there is a match.”