The Karnataka cabinet has approved the return of Indian Premier League matches to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, several months after cricketing events were halted because of a tragic stampede that resulted in 11 fatalities during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL title celebrations last June.
The clearance follows the submission of the Justice Cunha report, which proposed a variety of immediate, mid-term and long-term measures to boost spectator safety on the venue. State officials stated that the approval is conditional and subject to strict adherence to the report’s recommendations.
Karnataka Minister Ramalinga Reddy confirmed the choice on Thursday, noting:
“The cupboard agreed with certain conditions as per the Cunha report. He mentioned within the report a maximum of 35,000 people and other conditions. Accordingly, we’ve made the choice,” Reddy said, referring to the limit on crowd size and other required safety measures.
Earlier within the day, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar convened a high-level meeting at Vidhana Soudha with KSCA president Venkatesh Prasad, the association’s secretary, together with senior government and police officials to review arrangements for hosting matches on the stadium.
Safety Protocols and Assurances
Explaining the cupboard’s resolution, Dr Parameshwar stated:
“Today evening, the Cabinet has taken a call to allow KSCA and RCB to conduct the IPL matches in Bengaluru.”
He further noted that although every suggestion had not yet been completely executed, considerable progress had already been achieved.
“There are three categories of recommendations. One is what we should always immediately do. The second was a medium-term category, like gates, parking lots, the health department, ambulances and these sorts of things.”
“The long-term one was infrastructure. For all these, on a timeline, they’ve given us a commitment, and the government has accepted those commitments and given them in-principle permission to conduct IPL matches.”
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