Councillors of the Kochi Corporation on Saturday “boycotted” the FIFA Under-17 World Cup matches played at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor as tickets were not made available for all 74 of them.
Deputy Mayor T.J. Vinod said while the councillors were disappointed they had no complaints. He said he had approached A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, the government’s nodal officer for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, on the eve of the game, requesting passes since it was a privilege accorded to councillors for every important event held in the city.
Mr. Hanish said VIP passes could not be given owing to FIFA regulations, but assured him that chair passes to all 74 councillors would be delivered by Saturday morning. “But in the morning, the secretary informed that instead of 74 passes only 50 were issued. Since it was odd to leave out a section of the councillors, we consulted among ourselves and decided to return all the 50 passes,” he said.
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Legal metrology
The Legal Metrology Department has registered two cases for selling soft drinks that were priced at ₹90 for ₹300 at the venue of the football matches.
The cases were charged invoking Rule 18 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 (PCR).
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“Though we could limit the action to a mere fine of ₹2,000 for the first time offence, we have decided to exercise our discretionary powers and initiate prosecution measures against the contractor concerned,” said R. Rammohan, Deputy Controller, Central Zone, Legal Metrology Department.
The department had deployed two squads led by Mr. Rammohan, including two assistant controllers and three senior inspectors, at the stadium.
Kochi metro
Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) operated additional metro services through the day, besides operating services till 11.45 p.m. unlike normal days when the last metro train is operated at 10 p.m.
KMRL also operated additional feeder services using autorickshaws and vans from the designated parking lots meant for vehicles from faraway places to facilitate easy movement of fans to nearby metro stations. Similar services were available to them to return to the parking lots from metro stations after the game. The metro service was disrupted for a brief seven minutes on Saturday owing to technical glitches.
Revenue
The revenue and ridership of Kochi metro soared on Friday and Saturday on account of the increased passenger movement for the World Cup.
On Friday, 31,056 passengers took the metro ride, bringing in revenue worth ₹11.05 lakh. On the match day on Saturday, the numbers soared further to 54,650 passengers and a revenue of ₹19.93 lakh.