Batti Gul Meter Chalu: No electricity in stadium hosting India vs Australia T20I, overdue 14 years

India vs Australia fourth T20 international is set today in the 5-match series, but the stadium doesn’t have electricity. The Raipur Stadium has an outstanding electricity bill of Rs. 3.16 crores, which hasn’t been paid since 2009. Because of this, many of the parts of the stadium don’t have electricity.

With this 3.16 crore bill, the electricity connection to the stadium was cut five years ago. For the match that is going to take place in it, a temporary connection has been installed, as the Chhattisgarh Cricket Association requested. But this connection only covers the box and spectator galley areas. Also, the floodlights today will be run on a generator.

The Raipur Circle in-charge, Ashok Khandelwal, said that the Secretary Cricket Association has applied to increase the capacity of this electricity connection. The current capacity of this stadium is 200 KV, which has been requested to be upgraded to 1000 KV. The application has been approved, but the work hasn’t started yet.

In 2018, there was turmoil when the athletes who participated in the half-marathon stated that there was no electricity at the stadium. It was then announced that the electricity bill for the stadium had not been paid since 2009 and had reached a figure of Rs. 3.16 crore.

After the construction, the stadium was given to PWD for maintenance, whereas all the other expenses were to be borne by the Sports Department. And now both departments are blaming each other for this unpaid bill.

The electricity company said that they sent many notices to both departments, but they have not received the bill payment. Moreover, the stadium has witnessed three international cricket matches since the electricity connection was cut in 2018.

The media coordinator of Chhattisgarh State Cricket, Tarunesh Singh Parihar, said they are always doubtful about hosting the international matches as there will be problems. They use generators as an alternative arrangement, he added.