Some touts were allegedly selling tickets at much higher prices to make quick bucks. Acting on a tip-off, a special team of Cantonment Police conducted raids at various places near the stadium and nabbed them. They are being questioned, police said.
Demand for tickets of the match was high against the availability. Earlier in the day, tension ran high near the stadium counters after some cricket fans did not get any ticket even after waiting in queue for hours. Irked over non-availability of tickets, some cricket lovers ransacked the counters and broke the barricades in presence of police personnel. Additional forces had to be called to control the situation.
https://youtu.be/FgPYdCv1keQ
Talking to media persons, Prasant Kumar Tripathy, Assistant General Manager (AGM), State Bank of India (SBI) said tickets would be sold to the affiliated clubs and associate members of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), educational institutions and sponsors of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for two days till January 15 in which a total of 10,362 tickets would be sold at the OCA Conference Hall.
“For cashless transaction, we have put up 14 card swipe machines. Apart from this, tickets would also be sold through drafts, debit cards and credit cards. What we observed here is that the people are very happy to purchase tickets through cashless transaction.
However, the sale of tickets began after a delay of nearly six hours.
Asked about the delay, Tripathy said as per the Lodha Committee recommendations and the directive of the Supreme Court, OCA secretary Asirbad Behera had to resign from his post. “Since the signature of Behera was on the tickets, it took time to delete his name and replace with the signature of the chief executive officer (CEO) of OCA, Bidyut Kumar Nayak. After this formality was completed, the sale of tickets began. Besides, police also verified the tickets before they were sold which also took some time,” he added.
Talking about the number of seats OCA has provisions for the ensuing ODI, the SBI official said considering the security aspects, the number of seats in Barabati Stadium this year has been reduced from 46,000 to 43,000. “Out of 43,000 seats, 11,500 are complementary passes while 8300 tickets have already been sold online. From the remaining seats which are roughly about 23,000, 10,362 tickets would be sold to the OCA affiliated bodies and BCCI sponsors. The rest 12,000 tickets would be sold to the public on January 16 and 17 at the three counters of Barabati Stadium,” Tripathy pointed out.
Tadit Kumar Rout, secretary, Sunrise Club, said the cashless transaction for all OCA affiliated units is going on smoothly. “We purchased our quota through bank drafts,” he added.
Asked as to how the match would be conducted, he said “I request the people to enjoy the match and ensure that the match will be conducted smoothly.”
Railway Ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena told IANS: "The railway is working on an application that will predict if the waitlisted ticket can be confirmed or not."
He said that the prediction will be based on the passenger operations and booking pattern data of the last 13 years.
Saxena further said the CRIS (Centre for Railway Information Systems) is developing the complex application for the railways where a user will be informed about the chances of the waitlisted ticket getting confirmed at the time of booking the ticket on the railways new user-friendly website and application.
According to the railways, about 13 lakh tickets are booked every day against a reserved accommodation of 10.5 lakh berths across all classes.
A railway official said that the idea of predicting chances of waitlisted tickets getting confirmed was of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Tickets were available online and they were priced at Rs 60, Rs 150 and Rs 300. All tickets for the opening day match have been sold out, an official said.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where the eight matches are to be held has been fully decked up.
On the opening day Brazil takes on Spain at 5 p.m. and the in the second match North Korea plays against Nigeria which starts at 8 p.m.
Nodal officer of the Kochi event Mohammed Hanish said they expect legends of the game to watch the Brazil-Spain match.
Speaking to IANS Kerala Football Association President K.M.I. Mathar said their role is merely assisting the FIFA team who are the decision-making body.
"We have no role in sales of tickets and such things. We do what we are told and the stadium where the matches are going to be held will be taken over by the FIFA on September 20.
"The FIFA team takes care of each and every aspect including the accommodation, travel and other things about the teams," said Mathar.
On October 10, the first match is between Spain and Nigeria and the second one at 8 p.m. between North Korea and Brazil.
On October 13, Guinea takes on Germany followed by Spain against North Korea.
On October 18, there is one match in the round of 16 and on October 22 there is one quarter final match.
The total seating capacity at the venue has been reduced to 41,000 taking into account the security concerns. Brand new chairs have been installed.
The only thing that remains to be fixed on the ground are the two goal posts.
"The practice venues are all ready," added Mathar.
The excitement and hype around the movie has reached a fever pitch in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar as over 80 to 90 percent of the tickets for the first three days have already been booked.
Prabhas and Anushka Shetty starrer Bahubali 2 would be released in over 4,000 theatres in the country on April 28.
Shantanu Sharma, cashier of Grand Cine complex said that, the online pre-bookings for the much awaited movie started yesterday and already over 90 percent tickets have been booked for all the three shows till Sunday.
“Within hours of online advance bookings, all the tickets for the shows have been sold out. We hope all the shows would run almost housefull even for the next month keeping in view the madness among people to watch the conclusion part of the movie,” said Sharma.
The Grand cinema is one of the oldest theatres in Cuttack. It is equipped with 7.5 dolby digital sound systems, advanced air-conditioners and 2k projectors for a capacity of 365 people after its renovations last year.
The cinema hall had an initial capacity of 951 seats while the seats were earlier reduced to 795 in 1994.
Grand Cinema has been screening single movies since 1969 while films including Bobby continued to be screened for 14 consecutive weeks which was a landmark for the theatre.
A lot of movie buffs those who managed to pre-book tickets for the Bahubali 2 are excited while others who failed to grab tickets have rescheduled their plans to watch the movie.
“I had no idea that all the tickets would be sold much in advance. Though I could not manage pre-book tickets, all our friends have decided to watch the movie next week,” said Sumit Sen, a student from Cuttack.
While sale of online tickets has already ended, tickets will be sold at designated counters at the stadium on December 19 and December 20.
Speaking about the availability of tickets, CEO of OCA, Bidyut Nayak said, "OCA-affiliated agencies will get tickets on Dec 16 and 17 and in total, 9,010 reserved tickets are available. Later on Dec 19 and 20, 10,050 tickets will be sold over the counter for general public."
Meanwhile, preparations for the match have reached the final stages. All the work pertaining to the pitch, outfield and spectator galleries has been completed and 24-hour security staff will be deployed, informed sources.
In an official memorandum, the Ministry of Civil Aviation acknowledged the unusual situation that has arisen due to the lockdown and its consequential effect on the air passengers and airlines. At present, domestic and international commercial flights are banned since March 25, 2020, barring cargo operations.
To deal with massive cancellations, domestic airlines started to offer credit to the passengers in lieu of their booking amounts. These credits can be used to book tickets at a later stage, when the situation normalises.
Read Also: COVID-19 Lockdown: Railways To Refund Rs 1,490 Crore For Cancellation Of 94 Lakh Ticket Bookings
However, discrepancies have occurred on the refund mechanism. The first phase of lockdown was supposed to have ended on April 14, but it has been extended till May 3. "If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period... for travel during the same period for both domestic and international air travel and refund is sought by the passenger against that booking being cancelled, the airline shall refund the full amount collected without the levy of cancellation charge," the ministry said.
The guideline mandates airlines to make the refund within three weeks from the date of request for cancellation.
"If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period... for travel during the second lockdown period for both domestic and international air travel and the passenger seeks refund on cancellation of the ticket, the airline shall refund the full amount collected without levy of cancellation charge."
Read Also: India Lockdown: Railway, Airline Passenger Services Suspended Till May 3
Similarly in this case, the airlines have been mandated to make refunds within a period of three weeks from the date of request for cancellation.
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) April 16, 2020
On Wednesday, senior officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation via a virtual platform met airline CEOs on the issue. In hindsight, private airlines were accepting ticket bookings for travel post April 14, however, the earlier lockdown deadline got extended till May 3. Consequently, airlines adopted their previous strategy of providing a "travel credits" to passengers of the now cancelled flights to make another booking as and when the sector re-opens.
This system is complicated as ticketing agents and various payment channels are also involved.
(With IANS inputs)
Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, Executive Director, Media, Railway Ministry, said that the decision to increase advance reservation period (ARP) of 15 pairs of special trains being run since May 12 was taken for the convenience of passengers.
He said that the RAC or waiting list tickets will be issued in these trains as per extant instructions applicable.
"However, waitlisted passengers will not be allowed to board these trains as per extant instructions," he said, adding that there shall be no Tatkal booking in these trains.
He also said that the first reservation chart of these trains shall be prepared at least four hours before scheduled departure and second chart at least two hours (unlike the earlier practice of 30 minutes) before the scheduled departure.
Bajpai said that the booking of tickets shall be permissible through computerized PRS counters, including Post Offices, Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra licensees etc, as well as through online booking by authorized agents of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation and Common Service Centres.
He said that the revised rules will be applicable from May 24 for trains starting date of May 31 onwards.
With the coming resumption of train services, the Indian Railways has given green signal to the re-opening of reservation counters and booking through the Common Service Centres (CSCs) and also ticket agents.
This development came after Railways announced 200 more special trains from June 1.
The Railways Ministry had earlier said the tickets can be booked through the IRCTC website or its mobile app only. According to a statement, the zonal railways have been instructed to decide and notify the opening of reservation counters in a phased manner on Friday along with dissemination of information about their locations and timings as per local needs and conditions. The opening of booking centres will mark an important step in the graded restoration of passenger railway services
From Friday onwards, the Railways has also allowed booking of reservation tickets through the Common Service Centres and ticketing agents. The running of Shramik Special trains will continue to be handled by local state governments as per the existing protocols.
"Opening of all these booking facilities once again will mark an important step in the graded restoration of passenger railway services and making the task of ticket booking easy for all prospective travellers from all parts of India in reserved trains. Zonal railways may adhere to standard social distancing guidelines and observe the hygiene protocols in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic," said the statement.
(IANS)
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