As an aftermath of the Pulwama terror attacks, the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), who is managing the BCCI, has decided to cancel the opening ceremony of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and donate the money budgeted for it to the armed forces. The decision was also taken after keeping in mind the sentiments of the people.
In a statement regarding the same, BCCI said, “The estimated cost of hosting an IPL opening ceremony is ₹20 crore. It was unanimously decided that a sum of ₹11 crore be contributed to the Indian Army, ₹7 crore to the CRPF and ₹1 crore each to the Navy and Air Force respectively.”
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Throwing light on the matter, CoA Chairman, Vinod Rai said: “As a federation, we felt it was best not to hold a regular IPL opening ceremony. Instead, we decided to contribute the amount towards a cause that is so important and close to everyone’s heart.”
🚨 NEWS 🚨
The #VIVOIPL Opening ceremony funds budgeted at INR 20 crores will be donated among @crpfindia, the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy.
More details ➡️ https://t.co/RZBmaKvMi9 pic.twitter.com/wCwjkCi52k
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 23, 2019
Talking about the Diana Edulji, another member of the CoA, said: “This comes as a welcome move and as a mark of respect to the ones who lost their lives in the terror attack. The BCCI has always been sensitive towards issues of national interest and will continue to make contributions whenever the need arises.”
IPL is starting today and the captains of all the franchises embarked in Chennai on Thursday for the captains’ meet as they also signed the fair play pledge.
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Earlier on Wednesday, Chennai Super Kings‘ (CSK) team director Rakesh Singh had also announced that ticket proceeds of their IPL 2019 opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will go towards the families of the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack in which more than 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
