There is no electricity in the stadium where today’s Twenty20 match between Australia and India is being held. The stadium’s energy connection was interrupted five years ago because of an overdue bill of ₹ 3.16 crore.
At Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium, India and Australia will play their fourth Twenty20 international match today. However, there is no electricity in some areas of the stadium with only hours to go before the important match. The reason is an unpaid electricity payment from 2009.
The stadium’s energy connection was interrupted five years ago because of an overdue bill of ₹ 3.16 crore. At the request of the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association, a temporary connection was set up, however, it is limited to the boxes and spectator gallery. It would be necessary to use a generator to power the floodlights during today’s match.
The Secretary Cricket Association has asked to expand the capacity of the stadium’s temporary connection, according to Raipur Rural Circle In-Charge Ashok Khandelwal.
The temporary connection can currently handle 200 KV. An application has been approved to upgrade it to 1,000 KV, even though work on it hasn’t begun yet.
The stadium’s absence of electricity was revealed to competitors during the 2018 half-marathon, which created a fuss. Later on, it was announced that the unpaid electricity bill had not been settled since 2009 and had increased to ₹ 3.16 crore.
The Public Works Department (PWD) was tasked with maintaining the stadium following its construction, with the Sports Department covering any outstanding costs. Each department has been placing blame on the other for the overdue electricity bill.
Although PWD and the Sports Department received multiple notifications from the electrical supplier to pay up, no payment has been made as of yet.
Since the 2018 power outage, three international cricket matches have taken place in the venue.
Tarunesh Singh Parihar, the media coordinator for the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh, expressed skepticism about hosting international matches, citing potential issues. He mentioned that as a backup plan, generators are used for large matches.
“As far as the stadium’s lights are concerned, I don’t know how much payment is outstanding but a temporary connection has been taken in the name of CSCS,” Parihar stated.
