MUMBAI, MAY 21: The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) office bearers are facing the wrath of valid ticket holders who were denied entry into the Wankhede Stadium for the India-Sri Lanka Independence Cup match.

Despite the swift damage control exercise by the MCA secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty in seeking Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's intervention in the matter, several bonafide ticket holders had to return home disappointed as the gates were allegedly closed by the police.

The matter came to Prof Shetty's notice when a representation of three people came up to him and said that there are several valid ticket holders who were being denied entry into the stadium. He immediately sought the intervention of the Chief Minister -- also the president of the MCA who was watching the match from the pavilion.

``We told Mr Joshi that the gates have been closed without consulting us (MCA) and briefed him about the plight of genuine ticket holders who were unable to come inside the ground.

"The CM was very upset and told the police officers to ensure that the gates were opened for valid ticket holders,'' Prof Shetty revealed in a chat with The Indian Express.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhu Shinde refuted the MCA charge that the gates were closed and valid ticket holders were denied entry. ``I was myself present at the stadium for the bandobast. We closed the gates at about 7.30 pm and were allowing the ticket holders to enter till that point of time. It's not true that we denied entry to genuine ticket holders,'' he opined.

``If the gates were not closed, how come hundreds of valid ticket holders failed to get entry?'' Shetty countered.

He produced a fax sent by Ajay Miglani, South Asia Marketing Manager for Visa, who has alleged that ``one of our member banks has received a complaint from their Visa cardholder about not being allowed into the cricket match in spite of holding a valid ticket for Rs 2,000'' and requested the MCA to let them know the possible reasons for the denial of justice.

There was another fax from the secretary of Thane's Sporting Club's Committee who has alleged that the tickets given by the MCA and distributed by the club to its members were rejected by the police as ``duplicate''! The fax goes on to add: ``When our members try to convince the police, they threatened to put them behind bars. We are very much disappointed by such behaviour by the police.'' The club has requested the MCA to investigate into the matter and reply let them know the outcome.

``Even one of Ajit Wadekar's own office colleague was similarly denied entry into the stadium,'' Shetty said and added that a furious Wadekar -- one of the MCA vice-presidents -- is planning to write to the state Home Minister on this serious issue.

Prof Shetty was also miffed that the gates of the East stand -- the cheapest enclosure leading into the Guest Stand the most expensive at Rs 3,500 a seat was opened by the police despite strong protests by the MCA club secretaries acting as volunteers. ``It created unnecessary chaos and confusion,'' he said.

The MCA secretary said that the police now say that duplicate ticket holders made their way in. ``If that was so, it was the duty of the police to prevent such an happening. But the fact is that there was no chance of duplicate tickets. We ensured that such a thing could not happen by issuing tickets with hologram. We did this so as to ensure that tickets were not duplicated with colour zerox as it happened during the Mohinder Amarnath Benefit One-Day International.''

The MCA has taken the matter with the seriousness it deserves. The issue is to come up before the managing committee of the MCA slated for the first week of June.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.