The Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has submitted a proposal to the state government, urging it to establish a Metro link between Pune and Gahunje to enhance stadium accessibility for cricket fans, MCA President Rohit Pawar stated during a chat with Loksatta staff in Pune on Saturday. When asked about public complaints about long queues, the approximately 5 km walk to the stadium, and other management issues after the inaugural match at the MCA stadium earlier this week between India and Bangladesh, Pawar said that MCA was aware of the issues and had rented large areas near the stadium to make parking arrangements. “To address the stadium's parking issue, the ideal solution would be to acquire land, but this is not feasible for us as the land prices are very high - around Rs 25 crore per acre. However, we are also trying to find ways to make it easier for people to get to the stadium, such as our request to the government for a metro connection," he said. When discussing the difficulties MCA encountered in organising the World Cup Matches, he blamed the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) for their lack of cooperation. He stated that although the stadium is of top-notch quality, the roads leading to it are inadequate. "In terms of infrastructure, we had plans for road improvements through PMRDA, and larger roads were proposed. Unfortunately, PMRDA didn't provide the support we needed. Although land was allocated, and funding was available, it seems that there was a lack of serious commitment towards the World Cup on part of the PMRDA," Pawar said. Pawar highlighted the importance of improvements, such as increasing stadium capacity. He also addressed the issue of long queues that had drawn complaints. He explained that this was due to strict security measures, as the police administration couldn't afford to take risks. "As witnessed in previous matches, there were instances of individuals carrying fireworks, and slogans against other countries were chanted. The police wished to prevent a recurrence of such incidents,” the MCA President said.
