The Uppal cricket stadium jinx - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: Things couldn't go lower for cricket in Hyderabad. Last year, the city's team scored the lowest score of 22 for a completed innings in the Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan. That nadir was surpassed this week, with 21 members of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) put in the dock for alleged misappropriation of funds in the construction of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.

At the centre of the scandal are former Test cricketers -- Arshad Ayub, HCA president, and Shivlal Yadav, vice-president and the real power behind the throne. An Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court on Thursday directed the corruption watchdog to book graft cases against the duo and 20 others, including former cricketer and another vice-president M V Sridhar, on a petition filed by C Babu Rao Sagar, an HCA member and secretary of a local club.

The main allegation against them is that they allowed the construction cost of the stadium to escalate from Rs 30.26 crore to a staggering Rs 108 crore in collusion with Nagarjuna Construction Company. The petitioner alleges that the HCA mavens received huge kickbacks in the process.

Despite this, the stadium hasn't yet been completely built, lacking a firefighting system and a canopy although it's been seven years since the first brick was laid.

Last year, a London-based engineering firm, HKS Sports and Entertainment Group was asked to inspect the suitability of the stadium to host IPL matches. The company reported that the stadium was sub-standard and not safe for spectators. The petitioner also accuses the HCA office-bearers of misappropriating funds received from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the construction of the stadium.

'The funds were used for the pecuniary advantage of the HCA office-bearers,' he says. Both Yadav and Ayub rubbish the charges, claiming to be clean.

Stinking shelter

It's a fact that construction took far too long. The original plan was to have a stadium without pillars -- they obstruct the view -- and a roof. However, after staging three ODIs, IPL and Champions League matches besides one Test match, the HCA drew flak from cricket fans and the BCCI. So, the cricket administrators decided to have a canopy for the north and south stands.

Yadav acknowledges this. 'We received complaints from spectators, and BCCI president Shashank Manohar was also unhappy. They thought it was unfair to spectators who were getting roasted under the sun in the absence of a shelter. So we invited tenders for the canopy,' he says.

Sagar alleges that HCA allotted the canopy work to M/s Star Mercantile, a Delhi-based firm, for Rs 21 crore with scant regard for rules and regulations and that too for only the north and south stands, not the entire stadium. M/s McCoy Architectural Systems Pvt Ltd, another company, had quoted Rs 22 crore for roofing the entire stadium. 'It was done under pressure from Yadav and V Raghavan (technical adviser),' says Sagar.

According to him, the HCA even paid Rs 5 crore in advance to Star while it was the other company that had the technical experience, having done canopy work on the Nagpur stadium whereas the Star Mercantile had no such experience. 'It is a big fraud,' says P R Man Singh, former HCA secretary.

'And this was bound to happen. Most of the HCA executive committee members are more interested in making money rather than developing the game. In fact, in every election, some club secretaries cling to some post or the other in the HCA as it is easier to make money in contracts through benami firms. The Uppal stadium is a classic example. It has been seven years since construction began and the stadium is still incomplete.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) started building its stadium three years later than HCA and they have had a full-fledged stadium for the past two years.

The allegations against HCA are not limited to construction work. 'The HCA paid Rs 910 for each bucket chair whereas in the open market, the same can be had for Rs 450. The HCA paid over Rs 2 crore in excess,' Sagar claims. There are also allegations in respect of land acquisition in the Telangana districts.

The petitioner says contradictory accounts were shown when the HCA purchased six acres in Nizamabad. 'Some of the top HCA officials received gifts like gold biscuits amounting to Rs 44 lakh,' he alleges.

Man Singh endorses Sagar's allegations. 'It is an open secret how some of the executive committee members have grown in stature. There is no control as they decide among themselves to manipulate accounts and swindle the money. Just a few days ago, the executive committee members and others were rewarded with Rs 45,000 each for no reason,' he reveals.

Each club in the HCA is reputed to be worth Rs 50 lakh. Man Singh says, 'HCA is a milch cow. It gets about Rs 35- 50 crore annually from the BCCI. If the funds are utilized properly, cricket would have benefited in a big way.'' Dubious selections What irks cricket fans in the city is that cricket in Hyderabad has suffered immeasurably.

The two-time Ranji champions are no more a factor in Indian cricket. After the ignominy of the lowest score in Jaipur, Hyderabad has been relegated to the Plate Division in the 2009-10 season and sank further the next season.

The poor performance has fuelled allegations of favouritism in team selection. Selectors have allegedly bowed to the wishes of Shivlal Yadav to prolong his son Arjun Yadav's career despite his below- average stats. There have been many instances of good players being overlooked.

Nonetheless, Shivlal Yadav is unfazed: 'It's one of those things that happen in a game. It is a cycle. Didn't India get out for 42 against England at Lord's in 1974? It was one of those bad days. We are in the process of rebuilding the side.'