The Maharashtra government has decided to charge the International Cricket Council (ICC) for providing security cover to the players during the World Cup matches.
A senior Home Department official said that unlike in the IPL, where the government proposed to extract charges for the entire security cover, only the players' security would come at a cost in the World Cup.
Pay for extra security
The official said that while police security and traffic management would be provided free of cost as a routine measure, the extra security measures would attract payment. Players being ferried from the stadiums to the hotel rooms would now have to pay for their extra security cover.
Security is a major concern for the tournament organisers.
The State government has also written to the World Cup organisers and the police, advising them to abide by noise pollution rules. Environment Secretary Valsa Nair Singh, in a letter issued last month to the Secretary, the Board Of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Shashank Manohar, and Chirayu Amin, IPL chairperson, said the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court had observed that the noise pollution rules were not followed during the Aurangabad Premier League tournament in 2010, where the use of loud speakers did not adhere to legal norms and rules regarding the silence zone were flouted. The court had observed that action under the Environment Protection Act 1986 ought to have been initiated.
In view of the court's comments regarding these violations, the government has directed the organisers to maintain strict norms with regard to the decibel levels and restrict the use of public address systems within the permissible limits and timings during the World Cup. The letter asked the organisers to ensure that the noise pollution rules were stringently followed.
