There was no respite for organisers of the Indian Premier League on Monday with the Home Ministry making it clear that it had no Central security forces to spare for the cricket matches if they are held alongside general elections. In their first direct interaction over IPL,the Home Ministry also told cricket officials that the Centre was in no position to exempt any state government from fulfilling their commitments for providing their security forces for election purposes. These two points were conveyed to a three-member team of cricket officials,comprising Cricket Board Secretary N Srinivasan,secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Kashi Viswanathan and CEO of IPL Sunder Raman,that had gone to meet Secretary (Security) Raman Srivastava to discuss the possible dates for holding matches. The two pre-conditions set by the government leave very little scope for the IPL organisers to squeeze in the tournament in the April-May time-slot,which is the only available window in international cricket calendar this year. The Home Ministry,however,asked the organisers to prepare a fresh schedule for the tournament in consultation with the state governments,where the venues are located,keeping in mind the constraints cited by it at todays meeting. The organisers promised to draw up the fresh schedule and inform the Ministry by the earliest,possibly by tomorrow itself. The Home Ministry expressed its concerns,it explained the constraints to us in detail. We also put forward our difficulties and the importance of holding the tournament on time, Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting. The Election Commission is said to have asked for 900-1000 companies of security forces for the polls. Sources in the Home Ministry were not completely ruling out the possibility of holding IPL. They said organisers will have to come up with some innovative ideas to draw a schedule that the state governments are willing to ensure security for.
