BENGALURU: Karnataka State Cricket Association president Venkatesh Prasad on Tuesday formally invited Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, who also holds the Sports portfolio, to attend the T-20 cricket match scheduled to be played between India and West Indies men’s teams at M Chinnaswamy Stadium this Saturday.
“Dr Parameshwara was largely responsible for bringing back cricket, be it the Indian Premier League (IPL) or international matches. He was the one who constituted the expert committee headed by GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao and Bengaluru City Police Chief Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh,” Prasad said. The committee assessed the stadium’s suitability for reopening.
Prasad added that the committee is satisfied with crowd control measures, and additional measures for fire safety, put in place by KSCA in and around the stadium, and was confident that the upcoming international match would go off without any hiccups.
“We have implemented about 90 per cent of what the expert committee had suggested after its review. Instead of going back to what happened on the day of the stampede in front of the stadium, we need to move forward,” Prasad said.
According to the KSCA president, plans for redevelopment of M Chinnaswamy Stadium were discussed with the Deputy CM, to expand the stadium’s maximum capacity to around 60,000. “The master plan for a cricket training facility in Tumakuru was also shared with Dr Parameshwara,” he added.