Delhi Police accused of charging for verification

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has been accused of charging for the verification of access cards for service providers during the ongoing IPL at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. This was confirmed by the Delhi District Cricket Association's (DDCA) honorary secretary SP Bansal. "All the accreditation for the media is done by the IPL officials directly through central accreditation.However, the cards for the service providers are made locally and yes, Delhi Police is charging Rs 250 per verification," Bansal told TOI.
TOI got in touch with Delhi Police to ascertain the reason for this "unfair charge", but merely got a curt response: "No, this is not correct," said Vivek Kishore, DCP Central. Bansal said that this is for the first time that Delhi Police is charging for the verification of service providers. They charge for verification of service providers during international matches. However, he added that it is the team owners GMR, and not DDCA, who are paying up . The verification will be valid for a period of six months.
"This is GMR's show. All the service providers' cards are to be looked after by the local association and IMG. GMR will pay for the verification, not DDCA," said Bansal.
GMR's chief administrative officer (CAO) Amrit Mathur, when contacted, denied any such pay-up. "All the access cards and accreditation is handled by the IPL. We or DDCA don't have any role in it. You can ask IPL," he said. On being probed further, he refused to comment.