CAB forms panel to investigate power failure

Embarrassed over the power failure in one of the floodlit towers at the Eden Gardens here during the fourth ODI between Indian and Sri Lanka, the Cricket Association of Bengal has constituted a seven-member panel to inquire into the incident.

The seven-member committee which includes Kolkata police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti, deputy commissioner of Detective Department Javed Shamim, former CAB joint secretary Chitrak Mitra, Sadhan Mukherjee, Dilip Sen, S. Biswas and P.K. Mullick will look into the black-out incident which plunged the stadium into near darkness after the lights at the High Court end went off for nearly 26 minutes on Thursday with just four balls remaining in the Sri Lankan innings.

With such malfunctioning becoming a common feature at the Eden Gardens in the last couple of years, CAB President Jagmohan Dalmiya said they will go deep into the matter.

“It is a worry. We have not been able to identify the problem but we will go deep into it. Since 1993, the ODI matches are being held under lights but in the last couple of years only we have been hit by technical snags,” Dalmiya told reporters after the match last night.

“Our requirement is 6.1 KW whereas we are getting 6.02KW,” he said.

Asked whether he feels it was sabotage, the CAB President said, “It is not possible to comment on this issue before getting a detailed report. We will comeback on the issue very soon.”