Reports | Three stands of MA Chidambaram Stadium likely to be opened for ODI against West Indies
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The Stands I,J and K of the MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) will finally be opened after a gap of eight years when India play West Indies in the first ODI on December 15. The last time the Chepauk witnessed a full house was back in 2012 and the stands were then closed due to a few discrepancies.
The Chepauk stadium is likely to go back to becoming a full house when India host West Indies for an ODI series in December. The I, J and K stands of the stadium were closed for eight years due to which the stadium failed to host matches like the final of IPL 2019 and also one of the games in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016. The Chennai Municipal Corporation had closed the stands but now the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has submitted new lease documents to the corporation and is waiting for a green signal from their side.
"Earlier, the state revenue department was taking time in revising the amount for the lease rent and the time period. But after much deliberations, the lease period was decided to be 20 years rather than the erstwhile 99 years. The state department has asked for receipts from TNCA and several other sports bodies like the MCC and Madras Race Club," a source told TOI.
After seeing the receipts, they are to decide on the lease rent. According to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report, there were also issues about the pending rent of Rs 2,081 crore for the period between 2000-2016 from TNCA and Madras Cricket Club (MCC). But it seems that they have reached a settlement on that amount too as the dues were miscalculated because the property tax for a sports body is much less."
One of the discrepancies was the gym and that Madras High Court had ordered 12 metres of the gym to be demolished in order to create an eight-metre distance between the Madras Cricket Club (MCC) and the K stand. TNCA first resisted the decision, but then finally agreed to pull down the gym.
"Once the corporation clears the documents, we will approach the High Court to get the order to demolish the gym. It shouldn't be an issue and the gym can be brought down in a day," added the source.
