The fate of the second IPL match in Eden Gardens between Kolkata and Chennai is in the balance.

By Kashinath Bhattacharjee

The battle between Government of West Bengal and the Kolkata team management took a sharp turn when the minister for fire Brigade, Pratim Chattopadhyay, filed an FIR against two people - Avishek Singh of Kolkata management and Biswarup Dey, the honorary joint secretary of CAB - at the Hare Street Police Station and accused them of unlawful construction at the Eden Gardens.

The Minister is of the opinion that nobody had lent him an ear and the temporary gallery is not at all a safe structure. There is every possibility of an accident and Fire Brigade cannot permit them to allow people to sit there.

Not only that, he had clearly said that he would not bow down to any pressure from anybody and he would prefer resigning rather.

So, when Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of the Kolkata team, called him to say sorry, he did not promise him that he would allow him to have people on that temporary stand on Tuesday. He can do so only if the owner can assure him of making a ‘lawful structure, as per the requirement of the Ministry”.

Now there is so little time left for the match, scheduled to start at 8pm on Tuesday. And the Kolkata management had already ‘invited’ their special guests to sit there. Will they be allowed to sit there? Less than 24 hours before the match, the question is still unanswered.

Dey, the honourary Jont Secretary, in utter frustration, said that the best solution would be to shift the base of the Kolkata team from Kolkata from the next year. “If someone wants to file an FIR against an organisation, it should be made against the name of the head of the institution. Here they had filed the FIR against my name and Mr Singh, whereas if the institution had to be accused, the FIR should have been made against the name of the owner Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla or Jagmohan Dalmiya. Why Mr Singh, why me? I do not understand this. Probably they are not courageous enough to involve the big names of the head of the institutions. So, the honourary joint secretary or the manager is involved!”

Although CAB is not directly involved with the IPL, the Eden Gardens is treated as the home of the Kolkata team and the CAB is deemed as the organisation to have given permission to the Kolkata management to use the ground.

The problem is, the temporarily constructed gallery is yet to receive the “safe” and “fit” certificate from the Public Works Department as well as the Fire Brigade. “Looking at the broader aspect of the game” the PWD, who were reluctant to issue the ‘fit’ certificate even two days before the first match on March 14, had given the permission to the Kolkata management, on March 13, to have common people sit there.

"They would be inspecting the gallery again on March 17 and since there will be no home matches for Kolkata till April 1, the Kolkata management thought the issue was over.

But the Fire Brigade Ministry thought otherwise. So, will the match against Chennai take place at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday?

“I cannot say. I would not go to fight with people. My concern is that the structure should get a fit and safe certificate from all the concerned departments and the structure should be lawful”, the honourable Minister had told a local television channel, live.

Kshiti Goswami, the Minister of PWD, claimed that even Sourav Ganguly, the captain of the Kolkata team, had called him requesting him to look into the matter and take a decision, in order to keep the prestige of Kolkata intact. But Mr Goswami, too, could not ensure anything.

So, will there be Morchas (processions) in front of the Eden Gardens Tuesday instead of cricket lovers? Clearly the fate of the match is still undecided.