Duplicate ticket scam embroils called-off Goa ODI
The third ODI between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and Australia at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Fatorda on October 24 which was abandoned due to improper ground conditions has, however, involved controversy over allegations of duplicated tickets.
The organizers of the washed out match are now facing heavy criticism following a local news channel’s claims that several duplicate tickets for the ODI were sold. The Goa Cricket Association (GCA) has summoned the proprietor of a Pune-based printing firm after the controversy of duplicate tickets surfaced during the refund.
Several tickets with the same serial numbers while refunding the ticket’s cost prompted the Goa Cricket Association to call for a probe into the matter.
The printer had been awarded a contract of more than 25,000 tickets. Prasad Fatarpekar, the Secretary of GCA denied to comment on the issue and said that anything regarding the controversy could be said only after hearing from the printer.
"It could be a printing error. This will be clarified only after inquiry," said the GCA Secretary adding that they have summoned the printer for an explanation into the matter.
Fatarpekar called the ticket controversy as "disturbing", and said that if the printer is proven guilty, he will be penalized by the GCA. “If someone has played mischief, then he will not be spared,” he said. He also told the media reporters that the full payment of the contract has not yet been made.
After the third ODI between India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 was called off due to unseasonal rains and an extremely wet outfield, the Goa Cricket Association had promised to refund the ticket amount as the match was abandoned without a single ball being bowled.
The Fatorda stadium was jam-packed with 22,536 people reaching the venue to watch their heroes mauling World Champions. Records of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Goa-c786 Cricket Association show that 14,320 of them had passes while 9,180 had tickets.
This is not the first time that a duplicate ticket scam is embroiling some Goa fixture. In the past, GCA President Dayanand Narvekar and few other officials were charge-sheeted for selling duplicate tickets for a one-day featuring same teams on 6th of April, 2001.
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